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In Arapahoe County, Colorado (Denver area) today, two women who were shooting at a managed shooting range were shot, one fatally. The two women reportedly knew each other and are 29 years old. The authorities have divulged few details.

http://cbs4denver.com/news/woman.dead.s ... 10865.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

murder, suicide?

seamusTX wrote:In Arapahoe County, Colorado (Denver area) today, two women who were shooting at a managed shooting range were shot, one fatally. The two women reportedly knew each other and are 29 years old. The authorities have divulged few details.

http://cbs4denver.com/news/woman.dead.s ... 10865.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

That's not good.

The details will be interesting to hear. My son lives near there and I will be up there Wendsday for his wedding. Sounds like possible mishandling or accident at this point.

cbucher wrote:The details will be interesting to hear. My son lives near there and I will be up there Wendsday for his wedding. Sounds like possible mishandling or accident at this point.

There's very little detail here, but 1 dead and 1 wounded doesn't fit the normal profile for an accident.

Women don't usually get involved in shooting situations with each other unless the underlying issue is a rivalry for the attentions of a love interest.

It will be interesting to see what the investigation determines.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx? ... &catid=339" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Investigators reviewed surveillance video of the incident, but say it does not show what happened in the lane where the two women where shooting. They do not believe there was any kind of fight that lead up to the shooting.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx? ... &catid=339" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
People in other shooting-range stalls said they didn't see or hear any arguing or altercation before the shooting, Perea said. But he added that the shooters wear protective headphones and eyeglasses, which along with stall partitions, could impair their ability to hear or see what happened.

Negligent Discharge? Another Single Bullet Theory?

From the groundless conjecture department:

My wife and I went to a local indoor range. It was only her second time shooting, and the first at an indoor range. They asked if we wanted separate lanes. She said, "no, we'll alternate shooting in the same lane".

Once we were set up, the range office came over and gave us a quick briefing since it was her first time. He explained the importance of keeping the weapon pointed downrange. He told her that even though the lanes were divided by partitions on either side and above, those partitions had a solid metal core. If you shot your gun into one it would "probably ricochet around the partitions until it passed through you."

My wife then said, "I think I'd like a separate lane".

It was funny at the time, but maybe this is one scenario that could have happened. It's way too early to tell, of course, it's just something that popped into my mind when I saw the original post.

The first time I went to my favorite indoor range, I was alarmed to see how many bullet marks there was on the bullet proof glass between the lanes right about even with my face when I stand at ready, and how many were in the ceiling directly over my head.

Sure made me think about the open air ranges without even partitions between shooters. I wonder if this had to do with struggling to rack a slide, losing control of recoil, etc, although the article does mention they were small caliber guns.

It's more difficult to operate the slide of a small .380 than a big .45. Those cute little pocket pistols are an accident waiting to happen in the wrong hands.

Two people shot in the head at the same time is pretty difficult to explain as an accident, though.

This article doesn't offer much except that no one saw anything unusual:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25 ... etail.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

Women Shot At Shooting Range Were Twins from Australia sharing a stall

This just get weirder (is that a word?)...
I hope some more info comes out. I'd sure like to know how/why it happened.

• The women were identical twins.
• The injured woman is unconscious.
• Police do not know which is which.
• The handgun they were using was rented.
• The women had rented weapons at the range previously.
• Surveillance video shows them falling out of the shooting stall simultaneously.
• No one else entered the stall or could have shot them, according to authorities.
• Police still do not know how many bullets struck the victims or who fired the weapon or weapons.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16632861" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/email_pus ... 03286.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It seems strange that they don't know how many weapons were involved. Surely the range kept a record. Since the women were temporary visa holders and not criminals, they most likely did not have a weapon of their own.

- Jim

I can't help but wonder if it was some kind of ricochet. I wonder how far they were from the backstop, and how long ago it was mined for lead. The reports are that they fell out of the lane essentially simultaneously -- which sounds like a bouncing bullet to me.

seamusTX wrote:

• The women were identical twins.
• The injured woman is unconscious.
• Police do not know which is which.
• The handgun they were using was rented.
• The women had rented weapons at the range previously.
• Surveillance video shows them falling out of the shooting stall simultaneously.
• No one else entered the stall or could have shot them, according to authorities.
• Police still do not know how many bullets struck the victims or who fired the weapon or weapons.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16632861" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/email_pus ... 03286.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It seems strange that they don't know how many weapons were involved. Surely the range kept a record. Since the women were temporary visa holders and not criminals, they most likely did not have a weapon of their own.

- Jim

This is getting really interesting.

The new information, while still sketchy, puts an intentional shooting of both people by one of them at the bottom of the likelihood list, and moves a ricochet off the backstop or some other material close to the top, along with an intentional or accidental shooting by someone else at the range.

The question about number of weapons may be due to the nature of the wounds. If one victim had a through and through penetration and the other has a bullet lodged in her body, investigators will have to answer the question of whether the same bullet caused both wounds or whether they were caused by two different bullets. If two bullets were involved, it raises the question of whether or not more than one weapon was involved.

Based on the information that both women fell at virtually the same time, I'd lean toward a single bullet mechanism of injury if the wound pattern and the relative positioning of the two victims immediately prior to the injuries would allow for that. Their positioning and the wound entry points should provide a strong indication of the direction the projectile or projectiles came from, which should answer the question of a direct shot or a ricochet. That answer should provide a direction for moving the investigation forward.

Unless the injured woman recovers sufficiently to explain what happens, it may be months before investigators reach a conclusion. Autopsies seem to take a long time (not like on TV), and they would have to subpoena the medical records of the survivor.

- Jim