Tranyelle Harshman: Wyoming authorities say mother killed four children, herself

BYRON, Wyo.  — A Wyoming mother shot her four young daughters before turning the gun on herself in a murder-suicide that has left the children’s families and communities devastated, authorities said.

The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office responded about 1:30 p.m. Feb. 10 to a 911 call from a woman who reported she had shot her children at a home in Byron, a small town in northern Wyoming. In the call, she told dispatchers she believed her children were dead and said she planned to shoot herself.

Deputies arriving at the residence found three of the girls dead from gunshot wounds. The fourth child, identified by relatives as 7-year-old Olivia Blackmer, was alive but critically injured. She was flown to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City with a traumatic brain injury.

Authorities later confirmed the mother also died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The three children who died at the home ranged in age from about 2 to 9, according to the coroner’s office. Olivia remained hospitalized for several days but died from her injuries, her family said.

Relatives said the mother, identified as 32-year-old Tranyelle Harshman, had been struggling with mental health issues, including postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress. A toxicology report released later showed medications, including ketamine and an anti-anxiety drug, were in her system at the time of the incident, the coroner’s office said.

Friends and family described Harshman as a loving parent who had sought treatment for her emotional challenges. “My wife was not a monster,” her husband told a local news outlet, adding that the family had been trying to help her through her struggles.

GoFundMe campaigns and community vigils were organized in the weeks following the tragedy to assist the grieving families as they cope with the loss of their children.

The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.