Watch CBS News

Man, Family Died Of Gunshot Wounds In Greenwood Murder-Suicide

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- Authorities confirmed Saturday that five family members found dead in their suburban Minneapolis home died in what they described as a murder-suicide.

Brian and Karen Short and their three teenage children all died of shotgun wounds to the head, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said in statements. It said only Brian Short's wounds were self-inflicted, but it didn't specifically say that he killed his family.

Mike Siitari, South Lake Minnetonka's interim police chief, classified the deaths as an "apparent murder-suicide" after officers found the dead family members Thursday while conducting a welfare check at their Greenwood home because they hadn't been heard from in days. Officers found Karen Short, 48, and the three children — Cole, 17, Madison, 15, and Brooklyn, 14 — dead in their bedrooms. Brian Short, 45, was found dead in the home's eight-car garage.

The children had not been to school since classes resumed Tuesday, Siitari said on Thursday. But he said the request for the welfare check came from one of Brian Short's co-workers.

The South Lake Minnetonka Police Department said Saturday it's investigating the incident as a murder-suicide. Police officials said all the evidence they've collected from the scene indicates that Brian Short killed his family members in their bedrooms before turning the gun on himself.

Police officials also said the investigation estimates that the killings took place either Monday night or Tuesday morning. Authorities said they have not yet discovered a motive behind the incident.

Short was the founder of AllNurses.com, a social networking site for nurses, which he started in 1994 when he was still a nursing student. He depicted The Excelsior-based company as a success in a 2014 interview with the Star Tribune. He said he ran the operation out of his house until a year earlier. He had four staff people as of a year ago. He said the site was drawing 4 million unique visitors per month, with 150,000 unique users every day. And he said he had turned down 50 buyout offers in the past 10 years.

Greenwood, a village of about 700 people, sits on the south side of Lake Minnetonka. The Shorts bought the home on St. Alban's Bay in 2011 for $2 million, property tax records show.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.