Father killed four family members and himself, sources say

MINNEAPOLIS The father in a family of five found dead in their Greenwood home Thursday shot and killed his wife and three teenage children before turning the gun on himself, sources told The Minneapolis Star Tribune Friday.

Brian Scott Short, 45, killed his wife, Karen Anne Short, 48; and his three children, Cole, 17; Madison, 15, and Brooklyn, 14, in their mansion near Lake Minnetonka, the sources said.

At an afternoon news conference, South Lake Minnetonka interim Police Chief Mike Siitari said Brian Short was found in the garage and the rest of his family were found in bedrooms. A shotgun was found at the house, he said.

“This is a gruesome, complex case. We are asking for patience,” he said. “We can’t release information in real time.”

Siitari said the Short family’s relatives are requesting privacy.

He didn’t identify the victims or comment on motive.

The deaths hit hard at Minnetonka High School, where Cole, Madison and Brooklyn went to school, classmates and friends gathered Friday wearing orange and mourning the loss of the three teens.

The South Lake Minnetonka police came upon the “unspeakable” scene while checking on the welfare of the family, whose members had not shown up for work or school for a couple of days. The five bodies bore traumatic injuries and were scattered throughout the large house on Channel Drive.

Siitari on Thursday said it was a “complex crime scene” that would take several days to sort through.

On Friday, the street remained quiet, with only the presence of police and some reporters.

Police haven’t released the victims’ names, ages, or manner of death. But a notice on the father’s work website said that the victims were the home’s owners, Brian and Karen Short, and their children.

The home, built in 1998, is near Lake Minnetonka’s St. Albans Bay. It last sold in September 2011 for $2 million to the Shorts, according to Hennepin County property records.

Brian Short, a nurse, founded the website AllNurses.com, which provides information and resources for and about the nursing profession. His business is headquartered in Excelsior.

An administrator of the AllNurses.com website posted this message Thursday night:

“It is with great regret and a very heavy heart that I have to share some very sad news with you. There is no easy way to say this. ... Brian and his family have been killed. The news is calling it an apparent murder-suicide. ... No matter what the details are, the results are still the same ... a very tragic loss for the extended families, friends, co-workers and this nursing community.”

Scanner conversations between police and dispatchers indicated that all the victims appeared to have died of severe injuries.

After entering the home, officers found a small dog, then began a search and discovered the bodies, one by one, in different areas of the house.

The extent of the horror unfolded over several minutes as officers went from room to room.

One victim was found in a bedroom, a second in the basement garage, two others in the basement and the last in a lower-level bedroom.

Siitari said Thursday that he had never seen a scene so grim in his three decades of police work, and that it was extremely difficult for the officers involved.

“There are no words to describe it. ... It’s a tragedy,” he said. “This is a tough one to handle.”

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