Lake Minnetonka family was fatally shot, police say

GREENWOOD - A family of five found dead in their home in an affluent west metro suburb all died of gunshot wounds in an apparent murder-suicide, police said Friday, though it remained unclear who did the shooting.
Authorities on Thursday afternoon discovered Brian Short in the lower level of the home’s garage in the Lake Minnetonka community of Greenwood. His wife, Karen, and their three teenage children were found in their bedrooms.
At a Friday news conference, the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department did not say who did the shooting but did say that the shotgun used was found at the scene.
“At this point we cannot positively say who shot whom,” police said in a statement issued after the news conference. “The medical examiner’s determination will answer that.”
However, several Twin Cities media outlets reported Friday evening that Brian Short shot his family and then himself. They cited sources close to the investigation.
Authorities have also not officially identified the family members.
However, a Thursday evening post on AllNurses.com, a nursing industry website founded by Brian Short, confirmed that the family of five was dead.
Brian Short, 45, and Karen Short, 48, had three children: Brooklyn, 14, Madison, 15, and Cole, 17.
“It is with great regret and a very heavy heart that I have to share some very sad news with you,” the AllNurses.com post said. “There is no easy way to say this … Brian and his family have passed away.”
The post went on to say that authorities were still investigating the circumstances that led to their deaths.
“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,” the post said.
Police discovered the five bodies in the Shorts’ home on Channel Drive on Thursday afternoon after receiving a request for a welfare check at the house on a wooded cul-de-sac. No one had been seen or heard from at the residence in days, and the children hadn’t shown up for school.
Greenwood, with a population of 700, is just east of Excelsior on the southern shore of Lake Minnetonka.
Property records indicate Brian and Karen Short bought the house in 2011 for about $2 million.
The Minnetonka Public School District described its high school family as “devastated by the news” of the deaths and issued a statement to parents about what happened.