Twins' Suicide Pact: Surviving Australian Sister Discusses Shooting at Colorado Firing Range

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS/KCNC/AP) The Australian woman who survived being shot in the head at a Colorado shooting range told officials during emotional questioning that she and her twin sister were trying to carry out a suicide pact.

The reason they wanted to die remains a mystery.

Investigators say each woman shot herself in the head with ammunition bought at the Family Shooting Center, one using a rented .22-caliber revolver and the other a rented .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

One of the sisters died at the range in suburban Denver Monday, while the other suffered a serious head wound. The surviving sister remains hospitalized in serious condition and told Arapahoe County Sheriff's investigators of the pact.

The 29-year-old woman wouldn't say why she and her sister wanted to commit suicide, Arapahoe County Sheriff's Capt. Louie Perea said Thursday. No charges are expected to be filed against her.

Denver station KDVR-TV identified them as Kristin and Candace Hermeler, taking their names from an affidavit that was filed by sheriff's deputies to search the women's hotel room and luggage.

According to reports, police found magazine articles, news clippings and letters related to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting inside luggage seized from a hotel where the twins were staying.

"But there was never anything we came across to indicate that they had intended to do another Columbine," Perea told the Herald Sun.

The 29-year-old sisters who are from Australia's Victoria state had been in the Denver area for about five weeks.

It's not clear what the women were doing in the United States.