Tragic: Man Shoots Wife,Three Children,Dog And Then Himself

In a tragic, heartbreaking story, a Pennsylvania man bought a gun one day after police responded to a domestic dispute at his home and used it less than three weeks later to kill his wife, his three children, and then himself, authorities said.

Megan Short, 33, told police she was afraid of her husband when they came to her home July 18, investigators revealed Monday, and was in the process of moving out but never made it to her new home.

Police found the bodies of Mark Short, 40, his wife, and three children, 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr., and 2-year-old Willow on Aug. 6, the same day Megan Short and her children were supposed to move to their new house, in the family’s living room in Sinking Spring, about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Mark Short was allegedly supposed to rent a moving van to help with the move.

The three children — whom Mark Short had taken to an amusement park just a day earlier for an employer-sponsored family day — were still in their pajamas. The family dog was also killed. Police discovered them after breaking into the Sinking Springs home to check on the family after Megan Short’s mother reported that her daughter had failed to show for a lunch date. Relatives were left awaiting Megan Short’s arrival at her new home.

Investigators found a handwritten murder-suicide note on the dining room table and a handgun near Mark Short, and an autopsy concluded Short’s gunshot wound was self-inflicted. Short appeared to have written the letter after he killed his family, acknowledging having bought the gun and using it to commit the murders, authorities said. But they declined to provide further details of what was in the letter.