The Byron, Wyoming, mother who apparently shot her four daughters Monday afternoon had called 911 afterward, telling dispatchers what she'd done.
Tranyelle Harshman, 32, then told them where the bodies of her daughters were located in the house before telling dispatchers she planned to shoot herself.
"The dispatchers pleaded with the female caller...to remain on the line until responding units arrived," the Big Horn County, Wyoming, Sheriff's Office reported in a news release Tuesday. "The female caller stated multiple times that she could not do that and that it was too late."
When officers arrived at the home on the 200 block of East Shoshone Avenue in Byron they discovered two daughters, aged 2 and 9, deceased with gunshot wounds to the head. The other two daughters, 2 and 7, both had gunshot wounds to the head but were still alive.
People are also reading…
The 2-year-old died shortly after being found; the 7-year-old was treated by emergency medical technicians before being taken to a local hospital and then life-flighted to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Officers also discovered Harshman in her bedroom, who had a gun shot wound to the head and also showed signs of life.
"Ambulance personnel immediately provided life support" to Harshman and the 7-year-old. "The status of the surviving patients is unknown at the time of this release," the statement said, which was posted around 1 p.m. Tuesday.
A GoFundMe account for Cliff Harshman, the father, had topped $44,000 by Tuesday afternoon.
Harshman family
An obituary posted on Butler Memorial’s website named Tranyelle Harshman as the mother.
The fundraiser describes Cliff Harshman as a devoted husband and father of four beautiful daughters who has “suffered an unimaginable loss.”
“This devastating event has left Cliff and his loved ones reeling in grief, struggling to come to terms with the immense void left in their lives,” the fundraiser states. “The financial burden of funeral expenses, ongoing family support, and other related costs only adds to their pain.”
In 2024, the United States executed 25 individuals, marking a slight increase over the previous year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center’s year-end report. This year also saw 26 new death sentences, maintaining a decade-long trend of fewer than 50 annual death sentences. Despite the steady decline, concerns over fairness and accuracy in the application of the death penalty continued to grow. Executions occurred in nine states, with Alabama leading at six executions, followed by Texas with five, and Missouri and Oklahoma with four each. Together, these states accounted for 76% of the year’s executions. South Carolina and Utah performed executions for the first time in more than a decade. Taberon Honie was the sole person executed in Utah, receiving a lethal injection on August 8 for a 1998 murder. Honie’s final words expressed remorse and encouragement for personal growth. In South Carolina, Freddie Owens and Richard Moore were executed despite controversies surrounding their trials. Owens’ co-defendant claimed he was wrongly implicated, while Moore faced trial with an all-white jury, raising fairness concerns. Indiana conducted its first execution since 2009, putting to death Joseph Corcoran for a 1997 quadruple murder. Despite evidence of severe mental illness, Corcoran’s appeals were denied. Oklahoma is set to execute Kevin Underwood, convicted for a 2006 child murder, highlighting the persistence of capital punishment in the state. Death sentences and executions disproportionately affected people of color in 2024. Twelve of the 25 executed were people of color, and 54% of new death sentences were imposed on individuals from minority groups. These statistics continued to fuel debates about systemic bias in the justice system. The year also saw three death row exonerations, bringing the total to 200 since 1972. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected 114 of 117 petitions from death row inmates claiming innocence. “2024 brought renewed scrutiny to the death penalty’s fairness,” said Robert M. Maher of the Death Penalty Information Center. High-profile cases, including those involving credible claims of innocence, have spurred public outrage and declining support for the practice, especially among younger Americans.
