Sinking Spring Pennsylvania Murder-Suicide: Family Of Five Including Three Kids Found Shot To Death [Video]
Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, was the scene of a grisly suspected murder-suicide on Saturday; the horrific crime involved a family of five including a husband, wife, and their three small children. According to authorities, they discovered a note at the scene declaring the tragedy to be a murder-suicide, and all of the victims at the Sinking Spring crime scene reportedly died as the result of gunshot wounds.
As NBC Philadelphia reports, the Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, murder-suicide was discovered at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Law enforcement showed up on the scene after receiving a call from a concerned relative imploring authorities to conduct a welfare check on the family, a family that had been in the midst of some serious struggles. The family member reportedly contacted police, concerned, when the wife and mother of the household failed to show up for lunch as planned.
According to multiple reports, the deceased family of five was struggling with the serious illness of at least one of the murdered children, one of the adults was suffering from probably post-traumatic stress disorder and the family had been dealing with significant “strife” for the last few years.
When the police arrived on scene at the Sinking Spring, Philadelphia residence, what they discovered was utterly horrific. Inside the family’s quiet residential home, law enforcement found the bodies of Mark Jason Short Sr., age 40, Megan Short, 33, and their three minor children Lianna, Mark Jr., and Willow. The entire family was deceased, each one having been shot.
In addition to the married couple and three children, ages two to eight, police also found the family dog shot to death.
Parents, three children, dead in Pennsylvania murder-suicide https://t.co/ex9b11YK6I pic.twitter.com/T5tZ9LmO0O
— AL.com (@aldotcom) August 7, 2016
At the bloody crime scene, Sinking Spring police also found a handwritten note that indicated that the deaths were deliberate and that they had walked into a murder-suicide.
The Sinking Spring, Philadelphia, family had been in the public eye for quite some time following the birth of their youngest child, 2-year-old Willow, who required a heart transplant not long after she was born. Reportedly, the Sinking Spring parents had been profiled by both a local publication and The New York Times as they struggled to meet their infant daughter’s medical need for a specific post-transplant drug.
a gun is 47 times more likely to be used on a loved one then stopping a intruder. #Repeal2A
— Michael Patrick (@Jinzo_2400) August 7, 2016
In addition, 33-year-old Megan Short was a blogger and wrote public posts detailing her experience with her daughter’s health problems and her own struggles with PTSD, which the Sinking Spring woman claims developed as a result of her 2-year-old daughter’s illness.
“Having a child born with a severe congenital heart defect has been the most significant shift of my life.”
As CBS Local reports, authorities investigating the apparent Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, murder-suicide are quite confident that what they are dealing with is a horrifying case of domestic violence taking the most tragic turn possible. According to District Attorney John Adams, the murder-suicide note found at the scene of the mass shooting makes the cause of five deaths incredibly clear, and that it was a “tragic domestic incident.”
“This is an apparent tragic domestic incident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families at this difficult time.”
According to authorities, the entire slain family (including the dog) was found in the home’s living room. Police also claim to have found a spent handgun near one of the parents, but have declined to publicly identify whether they think that Mr. or Mrs. Short was the shooter in the Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, murder-suicide.
Understandably, family, friends, and neighbors are in complete shock that a family’s domestic struggle could result in the senseless end of five human lives, including a 2-year-old girl who heroically survived both a congenital heart problem and a heart transplant.
The investigation into the Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, tragedy is still in its early stages, and more information about the apparent murder-suicide will likely become available in the days and weeks to come.
[Image via Shutterstock]
