Wyoming mother shoots 4 daughters before shooting herself, police say
FILE-A police officer pulls police tape at a crime scene. (Photo by Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A mother allegedly shot her four daughters, killing three and then shooting herself in Byron, Wyoming.
The mother was identified as Tranyelle Harshman by the Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming news outlet. Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn confirmed to KURL 8-TV in Montana that Harshman died on Feb. 11.
Harshman, 32, called 911 at 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 10 reporting gunshots in her home and reported that her daughters had been shot and told dispatchers that she believed one of them was deceased, according to a release from the Big Horn Country Sheriff’s Office.
She also told dispatchers during the call the location of the victims telling them that two of the children were upstairs in their cribs and two kids were downstairs in their shared bathroom. Harshman then said she was in an upstairs bedroom and was "going to do the same thing to herself," per the sheriff’s office release.
The dispatcher pleaded with Harshman to stay on the line until police arrived at her home, but the mother told the dispatcher that she couldn’t do it, and it was too late, and the call was disconnected.
Police arrived at the home and found two girls aged 2 and 9 years old dead with gunshot wounds to the head and two girls aged 2 and 7 years old still alive with gunshot wounds to the head.
Officers later found Harshman in the upstairs bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head.
What they're saying:
The scene was a "nightmare," according to a statement the sheriff released on Feb.11, the Cowboy State Daily reported.
"I wish I had known something was going on. I could have done something about it," a neighbor told the Cowboy State Daily. "Terrible. F***ing terrible."
Police provided aid to Harshman and the 7-year-old girl. The initially surviving 2-year-old later died "due to the extent of her injuries," according to the Big Horn Country Sheriff’s Office.
The 7-year-old was taken to a local hospital in Lovell, Wyoming, where she was given advanced life support and was then airlifted by Cody Regional Health-First Flight of Wyoming air medical helicopter to Salt Lake City, Utah for "an advanced level of care."
Harshman was also transported to North Big Horn Hospital for advanced life support and "rapidly transported to an advanced level of care."
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