LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – According to Las Vegas police, a 20-year-old woman with a “fascination” for firearms is accused of shooting and killing her boyfriend while posing for photos with a gun last month.
Allysandra Blea, 20, faces a charge of open murder in the death of Mark Gaughan, 23.
On Saturday, Aug. 23, shortly before 5 a.m., the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a 911 call reporting an accidental shooting in the northwest valley of the city.
Responding officers discovered that Gaughan was photographing two women, including Blea, who was posing with a gun when it fired, hitting Gaughan, as stated in documents. Gaughan succumbed to the gunshot wound shortly thereafter.
Police found Polaroids from the photo session showing one woman holding “a knife in her hand” and Blea “lying back [on another woman], holding a black firearm pointed at her mouth with her finger on the trigger,” as per a police report. Another image depicted Blea “holding the firearm in her left hand with her finger on the trigger.”
A witness identified Gaughan as Blea’s boyfriend and mentioned that earlier in the evening, Gaughan had brought a gun to their gathering, believing the chamber was empty, according to the documents.
Other witnesses, including Blea, told police the group was drinking before she and the other woman decided to take the photos.
As per the documents, Blea told detectives, “She stated it was an accident and admitted she has never taken any firearm safety courses and believed there was no bullet in the chamber.” She also insisted, “She was adamant that she did not intentionally kill Mark.”
Police reviewed Blea’s social media accounts and determined “she had a fascination with firearms,” they said.
“In several conversations with various accounts, there was talk about her love of shooting guns, owning guns, building her arsenal and shooting people in the face,” detectives said. “There were several photographs of Allysandra holding various firearms (handguns, revolvers and rifles) in different poses to include the firearm pressed against her head, against stuffed animals’ heads and shooting bottles at an unknown location.”
Police also noted Blea “had a bullseye target tattooed on her chest.”
In one conversation, Blea reportedly commented, “I wish I could shoot people with real guns and get away with it.”
The Clark County coroner’s office ruled Gaughan’s death a homicide.
During her initial court appearance in August, Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Suzan Baucum denied setting bail.
