After Byron tragedy, governor says Wyoming must ‘double down’ on mental health interventions

A seemingly unfathomable triple murder and suicide in the small Bighorn Basin town of Byron this week is a reminder that Wyoming government and communities need to “double down” on combatting mental health issues, Gov. Mark Gordon said.

“My heart goes out to the families,” Gordon said, speaking to WyoFile reporters in his office Wednesday morning. He noted that legislators meeting one floor above had ties to the family involved, as tragedies ripple quickly through the social fabric of the nation’s least populous state.

“This is a restatement of how important it is that we have compassion,” he said, “that we listen, that we understand, that we recognize that there are people that can help, and we can reach out to them.”

Time will tell what challenges the Harshman family in Byron faced. The mother is suspected of shooting four of her children before turning a gun on herself at their home Monday. The suspected shooter’s husband told a reporter for the news outlet Cowboy State Daily that his wife struggled with depression ahead of the shooting. One of the children remains hospitalized but alive. 

While emphasizing he had no insight into the woman’s life, Gordon said in a state with a consistently high suicide rate the tragedy was a reminder of struggles with mental health issues that stretch beyond the roughly 600-person farming town. 

“Coming from a small community myself, I know how incredibly devastating and indelible something like that is on the community,” he said. The comment had deeper roots than he spoke aloud. Gordon’s home is on a ranch outside of Buffalo. There he has faced his own unfathomable loss — his first wife was struck and killed while jogging, leaving him for a time as the single father of two young daughters.  

Mental health initiatives

Gordon has made improving the state’s mental health services a goal of his second term in office. In 2022, he launched WY We Care, a mental health initiative that in 2023 featured “mental health town halls,” where Gordon and top officials with the health and family services departments sought feedback from communities about where gaps in services existed. His administration has also contracted with an expert in suicide prevention who has provided trainings in suicide interventions in several counties. 

But on Wednesday he acknowledged that the state continues to fall short. “We just don’t have enough resources on a government level,” he said. The current Legislature, with its focus on property taxes, election laws and cutting back on government, has yet to take on the state’s mental health system in any meaningful way.

“These are tough times for families,” Gordon said, noting the high costs of child care as one of the stresses raising a family can bring. “It feels to me like as a state … we’re not supporting young families.”

But limited government resources aside, Gordon said he has endeavored through his outreach program to shift the conversation about mental health in a state known for empty landscapes and tough, independent people. 

“As a state, we need to double down on ‘how do we help our neighbors?’” Gordon said. “How can we make it so that it is absolutely an easy and correct and comfortable thing to say, ‘I’m having trouble right now?’”

Painful announcements

When Gordon learned Monday about the Byron shooting through law enforcement officials, he informed the area’s legislators, his spokesperson Michael Pearlman told WyoFile. 

That night, the Wyoming Legislature was working late to pass bills ahead of a midnight deadline for certain votes. First in the Senate and then the House, lawmakers representing Bighorn Basin communities stepped to the chamber microphones, pausing the often contentious policy debates with calls for a moment of silence and unity.  

In the Wyoming Senate, veteran lawmaker Republican Sen. Dan Laursen, from Powell near Byron, sought to read aloud the sheriff’s press release but found himself too overcome with emotion to do so. Sen. Tim French, also R-Powell, stepped up to read the missive in his stead. 

“Please pray for the individuals up there and for the community. It’s a bad deal,” French said to his colleagues. Sen. Chris Rothfuss, the Laramie Democrat who at the time was running the chamber debate, then led senators into a moment of silence. 

Soon after, Rep. Dalton Banks, also a Powell Republican and in his second term, made his own announcement in the Wyoming House chamber down the hall. “A lot of times we stand at these microphones and say some good things about some people in our community and there’s other times when you have to say hard things about things that happen in your community,” Banks said. “Back home we have had a tragedy strike.”

He too found himself choked up with emotions as he asked his colleagues to stand in silence. Both chambers then resumed debate. Banks on Monday described Byron as a closely woven together town that has made its living off agriculture and oil production. “It’s this small, tight-knit community,” Banks said. “That’s most of our communities in the Bighorn Basin. We’re close together, tight knit.” 

Because of that closeness, the tragedy will hit particularly hard, Banks, whose brother lives in Byron, said. “You think we’re kind of immune to stuff like that,” the lawmaker said of the shocking violence. “But even close to home, tragedies can strike.” In times of loss, Banks said, small towns in his district come together to aid grieving families. Neighbors cook meals, take on farm or home chores and raise money for funeral expenses. 

“I expect our communities to step up,” Banks said. “They always do. You can’t take away the pain, but you can help somebody be stronger to bear it, and our communities do a real good job of that.”