Socialite Jasmine Hartin has confessed to authorities that she was practicing loading a gun when it went off and fatally shot a top cop in Belize — calling the ordeal a “living nightmare,” according to a new report.
Hartin, whose longtime partner is the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft, described to police in an interview how the night of drinking with San Pedro Superintendent Henry Jemmott on a pier led to his death on May 28, the Daily Mail reported.
“At some point he said, ‘Let’s see if you’ve improved your gun skills,’” Hartin, 32, told police.
Hartin said that Jemmott, a longtime friend, had suggested that she purchase a gun after she attended a party on May 22 in Belmopan where a man suddenly became aggressive towards her.
Spooked by the encounter, she called Jemmott who sped over to pick her up, the outlet reported.
“He told me I needed to get a gun for my own personal protection,” she reportedly told police.
“We started talking about guns. He made me unload the bullets from his gun and reload them, time and again, to practice for when I eventually got my gun license and my own gun.”
When the pair met up days later to drink on the pier, Jemmott suggested she practice again, the outlet reported.
“We’re sitting on the pier and I start loading and unloading his gun again,” she told police.
“‘The last time I did it, he took the bullets as I was unloading and placed them on the left side of him. I then put the gun, with the magazine clipped inside it, beside me to the right.”
She told authorities that picked up the gun and tried to eject the magazine clip, but it was stuck.
‘”I struggled with it, trying to get the magazine out, when the gun suddenly went off. I had no idea it still had a bullet in the chamber,” she told police.
Describing the situation as a “living nightmare,” Hartin said that Jemmott’s body fell back on top of her.
“I was pinned down and he was bleeding all over me,” she said. “As I was wriggling to get out from under him, to get free so I could check to see if he was OK, he slipped into the water.”
Hartin was initially detained for questioning before she was charged with manslaughter by negligence in the officer’s death.
She has retained attorney Godfrey Smith, who didn’t respond to request for comment.
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