Crystal Lissette Mar (Webb County Sheriff’s Office) and the home where she “accidentally” shot her mother in the head (KGNS screenshot)
A 19-year-old woman in Texas was arrested last week after she allegedly shot her 50-year-old mother in the head with a .40-caliber handgun by accident, claiming she was trying to show the other woman the weapon was not loaded.
Crystal Lissette Mar was taken into custody on July 8 and charged with one count of aggravated assault of a date, family, or household member with a deadly weapon, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a report from Laredo, Texas NBC affiliate KGNS-TV, officers with the Laredo Police Department and Fire Department personnel responded to a 911 call at about 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 8 about a shooting at a home in the 1400 block of Hibiscus Lane. The caller reportedly said her daughter had just shot her in the head.
Once there, medics found the mother and began providing treatment, noting that she was “conscious and talkative,” a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Laredo Morning Times stated. She was taken to the nearby Laredo Medical Center for additional treatment.
In an interview with investigators, the mother reportedly said that her daughter arrived at the house at about 3 a.m. and asked if she could borrow the victim’s phone, explaining that she had forgotten hers in her friend’s car and wanted to text her and ask if she could bring the device back.
At about that time, Mar’s mother reportedly told investigators that she noticed her daughter was carrying what appeared to be a handgun in her purse. Mar’s mother said she told her daughter that she did not want the weapon to be kept in the house and demanded that she remove the bullets and get rid of the firearm.
According to the Morning Times, Mar’s mother said that her daughter then began to tinker with the handgun and was “struggling to remove the magazine.” Mar finally got the magazine out of the gun, but immediately afterward, her mother said she heard a “loud pop.” That was when she realized she had been shot in the head and immediately called 911, the report states. Mar’s mother reportedly told police that the shooting was accidental.
After her mother called 911, Mar allegedly fled the scene before authorities arrived. However, LPD officers found her about two blocks away, where she was taken into custody. Police said they recovered a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun from Mar, who was reportedly still holding the magazine in her hand when police arrived.
Investigators transported Mar to LPD Headquarters, where she provided the same basic timeline of events as her mother but provided more details about how she accidentally shot the older woman and the immediate aftermath.
Mar told investigators that she was “not very familiar” with using handguns and only removed the magazine to “show her mother there were no bullets” inside the gun, the Morning Times reported. Once the magazine was removed, Mar reportedly “pressed the trigger,” and the gun fired one round.
“She removed the magazine and accidentally pressed the trigger,” police wrote in the affidavit. “She then heard a loud pop and noticed her mother had been shot. Crystal [Mar] stated she called 911 and her mother told her to leave.
Mar is being held at the Laredo County Jail on $30,000 bond.
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