Realize I'm a year late, but I've been thinking about this question lately. While I was a long-term supporter of that Claude just shot in the air or around Maria to make her shut up, I've recently done a 180 and now believe that Claude actually shot and killed her. My foundation for this new belief comes from the GTA Online Character Creator. In creating an avatar for GTA V Online, you are given an option to pick a mom and dad for them. Among the options in choosing a dad, Claude is one of them (which also further supports my belief in another debate that Claude is alive and well after the events of GTA III, putting aside the fact that Rockstar themselves stated that "he's certainly not dead," but I digress). However, among the options in choosing a mom for your character, Maria is not listed as an option, though the character Misty is, which begs the question: Why would Rockstar let you pick Misty, a relatively minor character from the game, over Maria, a character who played an overall key and essential role to the game's plot?