By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - An Australian woman who survived a double shooting that killed her twin sister at a Colorado gun range told police on Thursday that the pair had made a suicide pact.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said in a written statement that the 29-year-old woman confirmed that she and her twin "... planned to commit suicide together, and did in fact shoot themselves."
Police did not say why the sisters attempted suicides. The two women were in the United States for several months on cultural-exchange visas, and took a taxi from their nearby hotel to the shooting range.
"Based on the physical evidence collected, the surviving sister's statements, and video surveillance footage... (the sheriff's office) believes that this incident was indeed a suicide and an attempted suicide."
The bizarre incident occurred November 15 at a shooting range located within a state park in suburban Denver.
The sisters rented handguns at the range and were target shooting for about 90 minutes before a security camera captured the twins falling backward simultaneously.
One sister was pronounced dead at the scene and the surviving twin was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head.
Her condition improved enough for detectives to interview her on Thursday.
Because of their physical resemblance and the survivor's severe wounds, police were initially uncertain which twin died and which survived.
The names of the two women have not been released, but authorities have said they are from the southeastern Australian state of Victoria.
Relatives of the twins are expected to arrive in Colorado later this week.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Bohan)
