Shooting Of Classmates Has School Coping, Praying After Byron Murder-Suicide

The Rocky Mountain Elementary School has brought in four extra counselors and a support dog to help its 171 students in the aftermath of a Monday murder-suicide that killed one 9-year-old student and left her 7-year-old sister in critical condition.

Principal Eric Honeyman, who also taught kindergarten at the school for 15 years, said he thinks of the students and staffers as a family, and galvanizing those relationships and being available for the kids is vital right now.

“They don’t teach you this stuff in college,” Honeyman told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday evening interview.

In his second year as principal, Honeyman is marveling at the teachers’ strength — and at the strength the students give right back to the teachers, he said.

They’re all navigating highs and lows in the wake of this tragedy, he added.

Brailey Blackmer, age 9, was a student at the school, which is just north of Byron in the town of Cowley, Wyoming. She started attending it for the first time in August after her family moved to Byron last year.

Brailey died Monday in an apparent murder-suicide in which her mother, Tranyelle Harshman, shot Brailey and her three sisters, then turned the gun on herself in what has been described as a severe mental health break.

Harshman died Tuesday in a hospital in Billings, Montana.

Harshman’s 7-year-old daughter Olivia Blackmer, who is also a student at Rocky Mountain Elementary, is holding onto her life in a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, after having pulled through brain surgery earlier this week.

Losing Brailey has been devastating, said Honeyman. But the whole school is praying for Olivia.

“Miss Olivia — we’re excited she’s still fighting,” he said. “It’s good to know there’s some progress there.”

Olivia has been responsive to pain tests; she’s been moving her feet and hands though heavily sedated as medical professionals monitor her brain swelling, her father Quinn Blackmer told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday and Thursday.

Rocky Mountain Elementary School serves grades preschool through fifth. Honeyman didn’t have the youngest two victims — 3-year-old Brooke and 2-year-old Jordan — in school yet, though he noted their cheer and their charms at a recent Christmas program, he said.

Counselors And A Support Dog

Normally the school has one in-house counselor. But four more have converged on the school to help shoulder the tragedy: three from Burlington Schools to the south and one from the Rocky Mountain High School, which is in Cowley.

Lovell Middle School sent a therapy dog to the grieving school Wednesday as well.

“That was really nice to have,” said Honeyman. “And it helped some of our kids open up, and just having that dog available I think made a pretty positive change in regard to our kids overall.”

The principal said he’s forever grateful to the many people who have stepped up to help, whether it’s by providing food or volunteer work.

Honeyman said the school staffers haven’t been going over the specific details of the tragedy with the kids, leaving those talks and questions to be fielded at home. But they’ve told the kids that one of their peers has died, and that another is fighting for her life.

They’ve worked on coping strategies and have tried to reassure the kids at every turn that they’re safe and loved at the school, and that they can let their teachers know if they need help at any time throughout the school day.

Pray

Brailey and Olivia brightened the school during their five months there, said Honeyman.

“I can say this wholeheartedly: I am very grateful they made their move here,” he said. “They brought smiles that made our school glow. They had many friends, they’re academically smart individuals.”

And they were kind to others, said Honeyman, “Two of the kindest kids in the world.”

Going forward, Honeyman said he hopes the community keeps praying for Olivia and her family members; and Brailey and Olivia’s many friends.

“If we can get those extra prayers for all the people they’ve touched, to help them, guide them through this time as well, and our staff,” he said. “Prayers are powerful, and the more we can do to help each other get through it I think we’ll just — it’ll make us all a little better each day.”