Authorities are calling it a “tragic domestic incident”. It’s unclear if Megan or Mark Short was the one who shot the family and their dog. The handgun was found next to one of the adults. A “murder-suicide” note was also discovered in the home.
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Mark, 40; Megan, 33; and their children 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr, and 2-year-old Willow were found dead in the living room, Adams said.
The officers’ investigation revealed there had been “domestic issues” between Megan and Mark Short. Baby Willow had just undergone her heart transplant and was a patient on the same floor where Keeton’s son Weston, 7, had stayed before and after a heart and double-lung transplant (Weston died four months after surgery).
The Short family was known for their daughter, Willow, who was born with a congenital heart defect in 2014. Her parents relied on a specialty pharmacy to send the drugs needed to keep their daughter’s body from rejecting the heart.
The Short family’s struggles and triumphs were documented in local and national news stories.
Police discovered the bodies when a family member called, concerned that Megan had not shown up for a scheduled lunch date, officials said. Megan wrote that the experience was akin to post-traumatic stress disorder. According to doctors, she wasn’t even supposed to be born alive.
Police investigating the murder-suicide case released a statement.
Police called the deaths a “tragic domestic incident”. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families at this hard time”, police said in a statement.
Philly.com took some pieces of various reports that offer some background on the Pennsylvania murder-suicide.
Neighbours told the Reading Eagle that the couple had been heard arguing and Megan Short planned to leave her husband. A neighbor, Angie Burke, told the newspaper she saw the post about a week ago. She cited abuse as the reason “why I am leaving my marriage” of 16 years.
Burke said she met Short through neighborhood events such as the annual Christmas ornament exchange or Halloween parties, and they kept in contact, mostly through Facebook.
The grandfather of three young children who were fatally shot, along with their parents, in Berks County over the weekend spoke exclusively with 69 News on Monday.
In it, author Leigh Stein previewed her forthcoming memoir, where she describes the humiliation, manipulation and psychological abuse she suffered while dating her ex-boyfriend.
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“Certain smells and hallways trigger memories every single time”, she said.
