Police are investigating after a woman allegedly shot her four young daughters and then herself inside a home in northern Wyoming.
The 32-year-old mother, Tranyelle Harshman, and one daughter survived, but their condition was unknown on Tuesday, according to a press release issued by the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office one day after the shooting. Three girls — one 9-year-old and two 2-year-olds — were killed.
The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office initially reported Monday afternoon that "multiple people" had been shot at the residence, including at least one fatality. The sheriff's office did not immediately identify the relationship of the people involved.
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Harshman's sister, Savannah Rose, told the Scripps News Group on Tuesday that her sister shot her daughters and then herself. She said one of the girls named Olivia is still alive and being treated at a Salt Lake City hospital where she is sedated but responding to some touch.
A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help the husband and father, Cliff Harshman, in the aftermath of this tragedy.
“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.”
The sheriff's office states in the press release that the shooting in the small town was first reported at about 1:30 p.m. Monday when a 911 call was made from a woman reporting gunshots inside a residence and "further reported her daughters had been shot."
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The woman told the 911 dispatcher that she believed the children were dead.
The woman also told the dispatcher the locations of the girls inside the house. Two children would be located upstairs in their cribs and two children would be located downstairs in the bedroom they shared, the press release states.
The woman then told the dispatcher she could be found in her upstairs bedroom and that she was going to shoot herself.
"The dispatcher pleaded with the female caller over the phone for the female caller to remain on the line until responding suits arrived," the press release states. "The female caller stated multiple times that she could not do that and that it was too late. Multiple attempts to keep her on the line failed and the call was disconnected."
Sheriff's deputies and local law enforcement responded to the residence and arrived within minutes, the press release states. Officers entered the residence and found two children ages 2 and 9 deceased with gunshot wounds to the head and two other children — ages 2 and 7 — also with gunshot wounds to the head but still alive.
The 32-year-old woman was found in an upstairs bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head but also still alive.
The 2-year-old who was initially found alive "succumbed a very short time later due to the extent of her injuries," the press release states.
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Friends who knew Tranyelle 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.
This story was originally published by Mack Carmack with the Scripps News Group.
