text: The twin sisters who shot each other at a gun range meant to kill each other in a suicide pact investigators have concluded. 
   
   One of the 29 year old Australian women died, the other is now in stable condition. The incident happened at a gun range near Denver, Colorado. 
   
   Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement: 
   
   Based on the physical evidence collected, the surviving sister’s statement, and video surveillance footage from the shooting center the [the sheriff's department] believes that this incident was indeed a suicide and attempted suicide. 
   
   Security camera video reveals the women fell to the floor of the booth they had rented almost at the same time. They had been firing small caliber handguns for almost 90 minutes. Witnesses said they seem to be normal and having a good time. 
   
   The women were visiting on cultural visas and have traveled to the U.S. and Canada regularly. Family and friends were at a loss to explain the suicide pact. 
   
   The Family Shooting Center inside Cherry Creek State Park was the scene of the horrific shooting. 
   
   Police have not named the women, whose parents flew from Australia to help identify which one was killed because of their similarities. The survivor’s condition was upgraded from critical to stable. 
   
   The Denver Post has more details. 
   
   Photo from: Kevitivity ||||| The twin sisters made a pact to commit suicide together in Colorado on the last day before one of them would be required to return to home to Australia. 
   
   The 29-year-olds each put a 22-caliber pistol to her head and pulled the triggers simultaneously at the Family Shooting Center at Cherry Creek State Park Monday afternoon. 
   
   One sister fell dead, and Thursday morning the other had recovered enough to tell investigators what happened. 
   
   But she would not say why during the emotional two-hour interview. 
   
   "We asked that question several times, and each time she declined to answer," said Capt. Louie Perea, of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department. "Obviously we can't make her tell us that." 
   
   He characterized her as "devastated, frustrated, distraught, angry at times." 
   
   Her parents are scheduled to arrive in Colorado Friday. 
   
   The Sheriff's Department will not release the names until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conclusively confirms the identity of the dead woman through fingerprints. The federal agency had not complied with the request Thursday. 
   
   Washington state resident Jacky Sole said the twins were her cousins, but she asked that their names not be published until authorities made the official announcement. 
   
   A copy of the search warrant for their hotel room obtained by Fox 31 News listed their names as Candace and Kristin Hermeler. 
   
   Sole said they did not have other siblings, and both were unmarried. 
   
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   Sole did not know her cousins were in Colorado, but said they had visited the United States often in the past, usually traveling independently then meeting up once they arrived. 
   
   They received two degrees each from universities in Australia but had traveled extensively since, sometimes living and working in the United States and Canada for short periods. 
   
   "Once in a blue moon they would e-mail their mom and say, 'We're OK,'" Sole said. 
   
   One of the sisters was outgoing and the other quiet and reserved, she said. Their parents had moved to a suburb fo Melbourne from South Africa in the 1970s, she said. 
   
   Investigators said one of the sisters arrived in the United States in August and the other in September. One was scheduled to return home Tuesday, when her 90-day cultural exchange visa expired, and the other was to return on Dec. 8, Perea said. 
   
   They had been in Colorado about five weeks. 
   
   On Monday afternoon, they took a cab from their motel in the Denver Tech Center to the shooting range in Cherry Creek State Park, about six miles away. 
   
   They had been to the range before, the shooting range's owner said earlier this week. 
   
   They rented two pistols, one a revolver and the other a semi-automatic, and told the staff they were familiar with using. 
   
   They shot at targets for about 80 minutes before turning the guns on themselves. 
   
   A surveillance video shows the women fall backwards simultaneously from the shooting stall, but it did not show the actual shooting. 
   
   Investigators confiscated their luggage from the hotel, but found nothing unusual and did not find a suicide note, Perea said. 
   
   The surviving twin remains in serious but stable condition at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood. 
   
   The incident marked at least the seventh suicide involving rented guns at U.S. shooting ranges this year, and the third at the Family Shooting Center since 2004. 
   
   Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
target: – The 29-year-old Australian twins shot at a firing range in Colorado meant to kill each other in a suicide pact, sheriff's officials said. Witnesses say the twins were shooting and chatting for about 90 minutes when they suddenly fell to the floor of the booth they occupied. Both had gunshot wounds to the head. One died, and the other is hospitalized but was able to speak with authorities today. "Based on the physical evidence collected, the surviving sister's statements, and video surveillance footage from the shooting center, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office believes that this incident was indeed a suicide and attempted suicide," said a statement. More details here or at the Denver Post.