18-year-old fatally shot by mother identified

The 18-year-old who police say was fatally shot by her mother on Saturday morning in Minneapolis has been identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

Curstin Hailey Pope, of Minneapolis, died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

As previously reported, police were called to a home on Dupont Avenue North early Saturday morning. The caller said that a “gun went off during a fight.”

RELATED: Minneapolis police investigate shooting that left 18-year-old woman dead, 13-year-old boy injured

Officers found an 18-year-old, later identified as Pope, with a life-threatening gunshot wound to her abdomen. A 13-year-old boy had also been hit, but his injuries were non-life-threatening.

“We believe there was only one gunshot, [that went] through-and-through the 18-year-old female then striking the 13-year-old,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. “Perhaps, in this case, the gun went off accidentally, and it’s absolutely tragic.”

Investigators believe that an argument between a mother and her two children escalated, and a shot was fired.

The mother, 39-year-old Ashley Pope, was taken into custody after the shooting. She has since been released, according to jail records.

Investigators recovered a handgun from the home.

There were three other children in the home at the time of the shooting, and arrangements have been made for them to be put into the care of other adults.

This is the 11th death that is being investigated as a homicide this year in Minneapolis.