Police in Berks County went to the Sinking Spring home Saturday afternoon to check on the welfare of the family after a call from a concerned relative.
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Authorities said they found a “murder-suicide” note and one of the adults was found with a handgun.
The bodies of 40-year-old Mark Jason Short, his wife, Megan L. Short, 33, and the couple’s three children, 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, along with the family’s dog, were all found dead. In 2015, the Shorts and their struggle to obtain anti-rejection medicine for Willow were featured in a New York Times story. The couple had been having “domestic issues”, District Attorney John Adams said. They made no comment on who they believe was the shooter. In April, Megan Short wrote a blog post describing the “overwhelming anxiety” she felt in caring for the very fragile Willow, and how the feelings of stress still stuck with her.
The complicated and costly financial drug regimen required Megan Short to carefully measure out the medication to avoid missing a dose before a so-called specialty pharmacy could refill Willow’s prescription, she told the Times.
Back in December of 2015, however, Mark said of his wife, “She’s still the most handsome girl that I’ve ever met”.
“This is an apparent tragic domestic incident”, Adams said Sunday, Aug. 7.
In May of 2014, Willow Short received a heart transplant when she was just six days old.
The Short family were found shot dead inside their Pennsylvania home.
“Every single month it seems like it’s something”, she told The Times.
“I don’t think PTSD ever truly goes away but, with therapy, medication, and the right support, I have begun to loosen its grip on me”, she wrote.
Megan, in particular, had been open about sharing her experience as a parent to a young child with congenital heart issues, blogging for the site Philly at Heart and sharing updates on her own Facebook page.
It is not yet clear who carried out the attack in Sinking Springs. “You never imagine that anything like this could happen to her”, said Zientek.
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“There are very few moments when you can clearly see your life as separated into the before and after”.
