A woman in a Wyoming town shot her four young daughters in the head, killing or fatally wounding three of them before shooting herself, sheriff's officials said Tuesday.
The 32-year-old woman, Tranyelle Harshman, and surviving 7-year-old daughter were hospitalized after the shootings Monday afternoon in Byron, a town of about 600 people 14 miles (23 kilometers) south of the Montana line.
Their conditions weren't immediately available Tuesday, the Big Horn County Sheriff's office said in a statement. Neither was reported present at a hospital in nearby Cody and a phone message left at a hospital in nearby Lovell wasn't immediately returned.
The woman had called 911 to report she had shot and killed her four daughters and planned to kill herself, according to the statement.
A dispatcher tried to keep her on the line but was disconnected.
Police arrived at the home within minutes to find Harshman alive in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head, and two of the girls, ages 2 and 9, dead in their crib and bed.
A third daughter, also age 2, died soon after police arrived.
“When you’re in a small community like this, you know, everyone rubs shoulders with everyone. It’s just devastating," Byron Mayor Allen Clark told the Scripps News Group. “I just hope and pray that the family can endure and hopefully brighter days ahead.”
Friends who knew Harshman told the Scripps News Group that she had struggled with mental health problems, including post-partum depression.
“Everything can change in an instant," said Briana Baker, logtime friend of Harshman who has a daughter around the same age. "Never allow yourself to think, ‘it couldn’t be me.’ Stay humble and kind. You never know what someone is struggling with inside of their mind. Tranyelle was not the monster this tragedy makes her seem to be. Her loved ones don’t want her to be remembered for her darkest moments. She was sweet, loving, and funny. Her children were her main focus in life."
Sage Miears was a former classmate of Tranyelle and Cliff Harshman in the 2010s but was unaware of her problems.
“If she was really battling postpartum depression, that’s a serious thing. People needed to be there for her," he said.
The “nightmare” scene found by officers “should be something that no one should have to endure,” Sheriff Ken Blackburn said in the statement.
The statement said the investigation is continuing.
Scripps News Group contributed to this report.
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