POSTED: 11:51 am MDT April 29, 2008
UPDATED: 12:06 pm MDT April 29, 2008
TRINIDAD, Colo. -- Witnesses have told Trinidad police a teenager was
shot in the head while playing Russian roulette with his older
brother, but the family said a masked gunman shot the boy while he was
skateboarding.

The 16-year-old was treated for a minor head wound and released after
the March 21 shooting.

His mother, 37-year-old Lola Malczewski, was arrested Friday on
suspicion of evidence tampering, contributing to the delinquency of a
minor and permitting a juvenile to possess a handgun.

Witnesses told police the 16- and 17-year-old boys and their mother
had been smoking marijuana in the family car, which was parked in the
family's driveway. When their mother noticed that they were playing
with a gun, she told them to empty out the bullets, which they did,
according to a police report obtained by the Pueblo Chieftain.

When she left to go into the house, each boy took turns pointing a
pistol at his own head and pulling the trigger. This continued until
the 16-year-old shot himself in the head, witnesses said.

During the investigation, police found a bullet hole in the car and
the boys' fingerprints on a 20-gauge shotgun and a .38-caliber
revolver, according to the paper.

Malczewski is free on a personal recognizance bond. No phone number
could be found for Malczewski and it wasn't known whether she had an
attorney.