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All five members of a Greenwood, Minn.,  family died from shotgun blasts to the head, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.  The medical examiner says the deaths of Karen Short, 48, and her three teenage children were homicides, while Brian Short, 45, died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

The South Lake Minnetonka Police Department says all evidence indicates Brian Short shot his family in their bedrooms before turning the gun on himself.

The bodies were discovered in the Lake Minnetonka community of Greenwood on Thursday during a welfare check. Police believe the killings happened sometime late Monday or early Tuesday morning. There is still no word on a possible motive. 

The Short children — Cole, Brooklyn, and Madison — were all students at Minnetonka High School. Shannon Krenik, 19, was a close friend of Cole Short, who was just beginning his senior year. She said Cole and his father had a strained relationship, and often quarreled.

She last saw Cole a few weeks ago, right before she started school at Normandale Community College. Krenik said Cole had recently told her the Short family was having financial trouble and was planning to sell their $2 million home on Lake Minnetonka.

"His dad and Cole never got along very well, and his dad had a temper too," she said. "I know they had financial problems, they were about to move."
Minnesota court records show Brian Short's only past infractions were four driving-related violations.

At the time of the killings, Short was facing a federal lawsuit from a New Jersey-based company. Achieve Test Prep alleged allnurses.com failed to delete defamatory comments from its website and was funneling business to a competitor that advertised on the site.

Crime, Law and Justice

MPR News Staff

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The medical examiner says the deaths of Karen Short, 48, and her three teenage children were homicides, while Brian Short, 45, died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

Brian Short died from self-inflicted gunshot wound; deaths of family members ruled homicides

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