By Rick Christie

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 7:49 a.m. Monday, Nov. 30, 2009

JUPITER — Friends and family of four victims of a tragic Thanksgiving Day shooting here are expected to memorialize two of them tonight.

Meanwhile, the manhunt continues for Paul Michael Merhige, who police allege, that on Thanksgiving night opened fire, killing his aunt, Raymonde Joseph, his twin sisters Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, and 6-year-old Makayla Sitton. Two others attending the dinner also were shot.

Police said Sunday they hope a $10,000 reward will yield tips that lead them to Paul Michael Merhige. The U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force offered the reward for information leading to Merhige’s arrest. The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for Merhige for four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Police are looking for Merhige, 35, in Florida and Michigan.

Merhige was last seen driving a blue 2007 Toyota Camry with the Florida license plate W42-7JT.

Authorities ask anyone with information about Merhige to contact Jupiter police at (561) 746-6201.

The heartbreaking account of how a mentally troubled relative broke bread with his estranged family and then systematically began killing them has provoked an outpouring of sympathy from strangers.

It has also garnered national attention. This morning, CBS’ Early Show interviewed Jim and Muriel Sitton — parents of little Makayla — at their home about the tragedy.

Channel 5 said many people are asking where to send flowers and cards to the Sittons. It directed them to the Sittons’ church, Calvary Chapel Palm City, 1633 SW 34th St., Palm City, Fla. 34990.

At 7:30 tonight at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Miami, family and friends will gather for a memorial to the twin sisters.

Patrick Knight, Lisa’s husband, was also shot. He remains hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Family members of the victims told Jupiter police that Knight was pregnant, but a spokesman for the police said they had not independently confirmed that by Sunday. If they do, it would be up to the state attorney’s office whether to charge Merhige in the death of the unborn baby.

In 1973, Merhige’s aunt killed her husband, her two children and herself.

Suzanne Merhige, a cousin to the family, said on Sunday that words couldn’t begin to express the shock the family is going through.

“There is nothing evil in any of this family,” said Merhige, who lives in Daytona Beach. “These are good, sincere, people. They may have been suffering with Paul, but what I do know is that this is a very good family.”

In 1998 and 2006, Carla Merhige accused her brother Paul of domestic violence, although the cases were dropped.

Vanessa Archer, a co-worker and friend of Carla’s, said she never showed any signs that she felt she was in danger.

“God no,” Archer said. “She was a great person and a wonderful colleague. She gave so much to foster care children. It’s a huge loss for the community.”

In Jupiter, the Sittons returned to their home Sunday afternoon for the first time since the Thanksgiving shooting spree killed their daughter and three other relatives.

The Sittons hosted a Thanksgiving meal for 17 people at their house on Via Veracruz in Jupiter. At 10 p.m., police allege, Paul Michael Merhige opened fire.

The Sittons allowed a Channel 5 co-worker to film their daughter’s bedroom Sunday, and Jim Sitton told the station he had feared the emotions that he would face upon seeing it. Instead, with the ruffled bed neatly made and the dolls and toys straightened just so, the Bible marked where she had been reading, the room seemed to bring him peace.

“I was dreading coming in here,” he said. “But once I did, I just see all the evidence of her specialness and uniqueness.”

He held up the last photo ever taken of her, in a pretty Thanksgiving holiday frock. “She’s beautiful,” Sitton said.

Staff writers Jeff Ostrowski, Andrew Abramson and Stacey Singer contributed to this report.

By Rick Christie

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 7:49 a.m. Monday, Nov. 30, 2009

JUPITER — Friends and family of four victims of a tragic Thanksgiving Day shooting here are expected to memorialize two of them tonight.

Meanwhile, the manhunt continues for Paul Michael Merhige, who police allege, that on Thanksgiving night opened fire, killing his aunt, Raymonde Joseph, his twin sisters Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, and 6-year-old Makayla Sitton. Two others attending the dinner also were shot.

Police said Sunday they hope a $10,000 reward will yield tips that lead them to Paul Michael Merhige. The U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force offered the reward for information leading to Merhige’s arrest. The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for Merhige for four counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Police are looking for Merhige, 35, in Florida and Michigan.

Merhige was last seen driving a blue 2007 Toyota Camry with the Florida license plate W42-7JT.

Authorities ask anyone with information about Merhige to contact Jupiter police at (561) 746-6201.

The heartbreaking account of how a mentally troubled relative broke bread with his estranged family and then systematically began killing them has provoked an outpouring of sympathy from strangers.

It has also garnered national attention. This morning, CBS’ Early Show interviewed Jim and Muriel Sitton — parents of little Makayla — at their home about the tragedy.

Channel 5 said many people are asking where to send flowers and cards to the Sittons. It directed them to the Sittons’ church, Calvary Chapel Palm City, 1633 SW 34th St., Palm City, Fla. 34990.

At 7:30 tonight at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Miami, family and friends will gather for a memorial to the twin sisters.

Patrick Knight, Lisa’s husband, was also shot. He remains hospitalized but is expected to recover.

Family members of the victims told Jupiter police that Knight was pregnant, but a spokesman for the police said they had not independently confirmed that by Sunday. If they do, it would be up to the state attorney’s office whether to charge Merhige in the death of the unborn baby.

In 1973, Merhige’s aunt killed her husband, her two children and herself.

Suzanne Merhige, a cousin to the family, said on Sunday that words couldn’t begin to express the shock the family is going through.

“There is nothing evil in any of this family,” said Merhige, who lives in Daytona Beach. “These are good, sincere, people. They may have been suffering with Paul, but what I do know is that this is a very good family.”

In 1998 and 2006, Carla Merhige accused her brother Paul of domestic violence, although the cases were dropped.

Vanessa Archer, a co-worker and friend of Carla’s, said she never showed any signs that she felt she was in danger.

“God no,” Archer said. “She was a great person and a wonderful colleague. She gave so much to foster care children. It’s a huge loss for the community.”

In Jupiter, the Sittons returned to their home Sunday afternoon for the first time since the Thanksgiving shooting spree killed their daughter and three other relatives.

The Sittons hosted a Thanksgiving meal for 17 people at their house on Via Veracruz in Jupiter. At 10 p.m., police allege, Paul Michael Merhige opened fire.

The Sittons allowed a Channel 5 co-worker to film their daughter’s bedroom Sunday, and Jim Sitton told the station he had feared the emotions that he would face upon seeing it. Instead, with the ruffled bed neatly made and the dolls and toys straightened just so, the Bible marked where she had been reading, the room seemed to bring him peace.

“I was dreading coming in here,” he said. “But once I did, I just see all the evidence of her specialness and uniqueness.”

He held up the last photo ever taken of her, in a pretty Thanksgiving holiday frock. “She’s beautiful,” Sitton said.

Staff writers Jeff Ostrowski, Andrew Abramson and Stacey Singer contributed to this report.

For some, Thanksgiving weekend is all about the holiday traditions of home, family and food. For others, though, the weekend centers on another holiday — one that is more focused on competition, big crowds and, most importantly, retail.

Black Friday, the day that traditionally ushers in the Christmas shopping season, gets its name from slightly outdated accountant jargon; on the fruitful day, retailers typically make a return from their financial losses of the prior season — “in the red” — and begin earning profits — “in the black.”

But the day is not only profitable for retailers. To draw customers in on Black Friday, stores are known to hold generous sales, often offering eye-catching bargains like 50 percent, 70 percent or even 90 percent off of store merchandise.

To accommodate the huge crowds of shoppers these offers bring in, stores notoriously extend their hours the day of — or sometimes the multiple days surrounding — Black Friday. Four or 5 a.m. is a typical opening hour for larger stores, such as Best Buy and Macy’s, that take part in the Black Friday mania. Some stores, such as Toys R Us, have even begun opening at midnight after Thursday’s Thanksgiving meal.

Junior Julia Stimeck, a former employee of L.L.Bean, said that when stores try too hard to attract customers, they can end up using marketing tactics that do not result in significantly increased sales.

“When I worked at L.L.Bean, they decided that they needed to stay open for 24 hours every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she said. “The intention was clear — they wanted to attract customers shopping for the holidays. But they didn’t really think about the fact that, other than on Black Friday, people are not willing to shop in the middle of the night. Why would anyone come shop at L.L.Bean at four in the morning on a weeknight? In the end, they probably spent more money hiring staff for night shifts than they earned by keeping the store open.”

Even with increased shopping hours throughout the entire holiday season, people still line up outside of stores at all hours of the night before Black Friday, eager to be among the first to dig through the best deals of the year. While some shoppers choose to pitch a tent and camp out in line, others simply brave the cold.

According to senior Ari Dukas, Black Friday shoppers may have to combat another phenomenon before they even reach the parking lot: late night traffic.

“A friend of mine woke up early to go wait [in] a line outside of a department store. She said that at 2 a.m. the traffic was already awful because of all the people trying to get to stores ahead of time,” Dukas said.

Once the stores open, those courageous enough to step foot in a department store must sometimes endure swarms of pushy people more concerned with grabbing the items they want than with their own, or anyone else’s, safety.

For Dukas, the reputation of overly aggressive shoppers is reason enough to avoid Black Friday shopping altogether.

“I’m not intense enough for Black Friday,” Dukas said.

Indeed, Black Friday occasionally gets more out of hand than a little pushing and shoving. Last year, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled and killed by Black Friday shoppers who stampeded through the store’s glass doors minutes before opening time. This year, policemen were called to break up brawls between competing customers in two Wal-Marts in California.

According to Stimeck, working to control the stampede of forceful shoppers can be more stressful than being a part of the crowd.

“Employees are given absurd work hours around the holidays, especially when your store is open 24 hours for about a week straight.” Stimeck said. “And clothing constantly ends up on the floors, on the wrong racks, all over the place. Customers can also be really nasty.”

This year, however, some Black Friday shoppers found that venturing into stores on Friday was not as intimidating as they had expected.

“I went [shopping] in the afternoon and was surprised by the fact that it was not absolutely packed,” junior David Johnson said.

Junior Lia Tucker had a similar experience.

“I just stopped off at Ann Taylor the day after Black Friday to take advantage of whatever sales were continuing, and I couldn’t believe how empty it was. There were about 10 people in the entire store,” she said.

Some students suspected that due to a struggling economy, people simply could not afford to shop for gifts, even with Black Friday discounts. Others guessed that retailers could no longer afford to offer sales as enticing as those they had offered in the past.

“The sales were sub-par. Too many ‘buy one, get one half off’ kind of sales instead of actual percentage discounts,” Johnson said. “Then again, I haven’t much enjoyed Black Friday for the past few years, either.”

Be the first to comment on this article!

Follow me on Twitter at: Twitter.com/joshsimeone

EL PASO COUNTY – New details are emerging in the Thanksgiving Day murder in Security allegedly involving a father and his son.

Aylais Oliver, 76, faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of his son, 49-year-old Keith Oliver. Keith Oliver was killed around 3:00 PM Thanksgiving Day at a home at 4030 Oberding Drive in Security.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by NEWSCHANNEL 13, Aylais Oliver told an El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputy he harmed his son. The affidavit describes a daylong argument between father and son over chores that ended in the death of his son.

According to the affidavit, Aylais’ wife, Marjorie, asked his son Keith to leave. The son did not leave and that’s when Aylais allegedly went upstairs to retrieve his gun. The affidavit goes on to describe Aylais confronting his son in the garage of the family home and having an argument that lasted “5 words” before allegedly shooting his son once.

During the argument, according to the affidavit, something along the lines of “stand up like a man” was heard from the victim prior to him being shot.

The affidavit goes onto describe Aylais sitting down on a step before being asked by his wife to lay the gun down.

Upon arrival, a deputy with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office contacted Aylais and noticed the man was breathing heavily. when asked if he was alright, Alyais responded, “that he had harmed his son,” according to the affidavit.

Alyais served in the military and worked at a steel mill for several years to support his family. according to the arrest affidavit, he was paying the rent and car payments for his twin sons.

Thanksgiving Sales Attract more Shoppers, Less Average Spending

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) — more consumers went shopping overthe Thanksgiving holiday weekend, yet spent less than last yearas they hunted for bargains on toys and electronics, accordingto the National Retail Federation.

Spending at stores and on Web sites from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29rose 0.5 percent to an estimated $41.2 billion from $41 billiona year earlier, the Washington-based trade group said yesterday,citing a survey conducted by polling firm BIGresearch. Thehigher turnout and lower average spending were in line withexpectations, the NRF said. The group is sticking to a forecastfor a 1 percent drop in spending this holiday season.

Price cuts on small appliances, toys and winter clotheshelped bring shoppers into chains including Macy’s inc., J.C.Penney Co. and Wal-Mart Stores inc. on so-called Cyber Mondaytoday, 96.5 million people plan to shop on the Internet to takeadvantage of limited-time offers and free shipping, according tothe NRF. that would be a 14 percent increase from 2008.

“People are going to be very disciplined,” said GerrickJohnson, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in new York. “Theyknow their budget and they have a budget.”

Thirteen percent more shoppers visited at least onedepartment store this year, the NRF said. Internet spending onBlack Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, rose 11 percent from ayear ago, to $595 million, ComScore inc., a Reston, Virginia-based research firm, said yesterday in a statement.

Target Corp., the second-biggest U.S. discount chain afterBentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart, for the first time thisyear advertised an online-only sale on Thanksgiving. J.C.Penney, the third-largest U.S. department-store company, startedCyber Monday specials a day earlier this year.

Amazon.com inc., based in Seattle, is the largest onlineretailer and plans a series of “lightening deals” for limitedtime periods today.

The average shopper spent $343.31 in stores and online overthe holiday weekend, less than $372.57 a year ago, the NRF said.The number of shoppers rose to 195 million from 172 million ayear earlier, according to the NRF. The group is the world’slargest trade association, according to its Web site.

“Shoppers proved this weekend that they were willing toopen their wallets for a bargain,” said Tracy Mullin, NRF’spresident and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Whileretailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shoppedover Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cutout for them to keep people coming back through Christmas.”

Average spending declined as prices for flat-screentelevisions dropped and retailers offered a greater number ofitems at unprofitable prices to lure shoppers, Scott Krugman, aspokesman for the NRF, said on a conference call yesterday.

Vee Weaver, a certified nurse’s aide from Atlanta, bought aset of knives, a red shirt and a purse at Macy’s and J.C. Penneyafter she was persuaded by a friend to shop on Black Friday.

“I have a job and I’ve saved all year,” Weaver, 65, saidat The Shops at Wiregrass, an outdoor shopping mall near Tampa,Florida. The black leather purse she got was $14.97 marked downfrom $59.98. “I had to jump up and down and blink,” she said.

On Black Friday, Richfield, Minnesota-based best buy Co.,the biggest electronics chain, had bigger early-morning crowdsand more online visitors than last year, CEO Brian Dunn.

“Those are both directionally important indicators forus,” he said in a Nov. 27 Bloomberg Television interview.

Holiday sales make up a third or more of retailers’ annualprofit. The International Council of Shopping Centers, anotherindustry trade group, predicted sales at stores open at least ayear will advance 1 percent in November and December after ayear-earlier 5.8 percent decline, the worst in 40 years.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, attracted consumerswith $298 Hewlett-Packard laptop computers and other specialsthat went on sale at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. Thestock declined 33 cents to $54.63 in new York Stock Exchangecomposite trading on Nov. 27.

Renee McDonald, 40, started waiting at 5 a.m. outside aWalmart in Houston, hoping to purchase a television. When thestore ran out, she bought a digital camera instead.

Black Friday shopping at J.C. Penney stores was strongthroughout the U.S., the Plano, Texas-based retailer said in ane-mailed statement on Nov. 28. J.C. Penney and other retailersplan to report November sales on Dec. 3. The retailer fell $1.07to $29.57 on Nov. 27 on the new York Stock Exchange.

At the Macy’s in new York’s Herald Square, shopper trafficappeared greater than a year ago, and continued to flow in afterthe initial rush, Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren said. Jewelryand housewares were selling “briskly,” he said. Macy’s, basedin Cincinnati, dropped 59 cents to $16.97 in Nov. 27 trading.

“Last year we were just getting rid of the inventory webought six months before,” Lundgren said. “This year we’ve hada year to think through what is the sales trend.”

To contact the reporter on this story:Lauren Coleman-Lochner in new York at llochner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 30, 2009 00:01 EST

Thanksgiving Weekend Brings Dip in Crude Oil PriceTony PottsConcerns that Dubai banks might default on $60 billion in debt led to the Dow Jones industrial average giving up 155 points Friday. the Dow fell as much as 233 points during a broad retreat and the dollar gained against most other major currencies while commodities tumbled. NYMEX crude oil ended the week at $76.05 per barrel. the national average price of unleaded regular gasoline today is $2.62 per gallon, a decrease of 2 cents from one week ago. the average prices in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee are $2.67, $2.50 and $2.49 respectively and each states average is essentially even with last week.

Looking ahead, investors are expected to either shrug off the financial crisis in the Middle East or seek protection in more conservative investments. if the Dubai debt problem worsens, we should probably expect crude oil prices to reflect that and a decline in crude could bring a more pronounced decline in retail gasoline prices during December, said Gregg Laskoski, managing director of public relations, AAA Auto Club South.

How much are you paying for gasoline taxes in Florida/Georgia/Tennessee? Use this link: aaasouth.com/acs_news/gas_taxes.asp to find out

November 29: Thanksgiving massacre: Paul Merhige’s search continues. a Florida man who allegedly shot dead four people, including his sisters, in the coastal town of Jupiter may be held soon after sleuths issues an arrest warrant.

The US Marshals are out on the road to spot the 35-year-old Paul Michael Merhige.

The man, who left the scene of crime after Thanksgiving Day shooting, faces four counts of first-degree murder. Besides, charges will also be slapped on him for attempting first-degree murder. The accused Merhige used a blue 2007 Toyota Camry with Florida license plate number W42 7JT to escape from the spot.

This was announced by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office.

Those who were at the receiving end of his shooting assault, include Merhige’s 6-year-old cousin, Makayla Sitton; his 33-year-old twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight; and 76-year-old Raymond Joseph, police said.

Shockingly, one of the victims — Knight — was pregnant.

A police spokeswoman told local reporters that the two others — Patrick Knight and Clifford Gebara — were wounded.

Further investigation by the cops in the case has thrown some disturbing facts like Merhige “had ongoing resentment” for some of his relatives, said Sally Collins-Ortiz, a spokeswoman for Jupiter police.

BOSTON — a Boston woman has succeeded at one of the all-time great Thanksgiving Day juggling acts: She cooked the turkey while helping deliver her baby granddaughter.

Patricia McCalop was in the middle of preparing the meal when her daughter suddenly went into labor two weeks early.

McCalop called 911, and a dispatcher talked her through the delivery and helped her confirm that the baby girl was breathing.

Paramedics arrived shortly afterward and took Africa McCalop and her newborn to the hospital. They are both in good health.

Patricia McCalop said she kept running between the kitchen and her daughter in labor because she didn’t want the turkey to burn while helping her child deliver the baby.

“I’m like, ‘What are you doing with the turkey? we got the baby,’” Africa McCalop told the Boston Herald. “She didnt know what to do. Shes like, ‘I got to go get the turkey baster.’ Im like ‘For what?’”

The infant weighed six pounds.

Presidential Thanksgiving messages are a routine bit of executive prose that most attentive citizens happily ignore in this moment of national gratitude. But the sky-is-falling mood that now pervades Obama commentary couldnt let this 435-word document pass without a few sniffs of disapproval.

The Gawker Web site called it an uninspiring first effort from our most literary president and expressed hope that he would spend a little more time on it next year. Politico damned it with faint analysis it was basic and brief and tread lightly to avoid controversy.

Mostly, the message reiterated familiar Obama themes of diversity, community and service. the opening line referred to Thanksgiving as a harvest celebration between European settlers and indigenous communities, and Obama called attention to the contributions of Native Americans, who helped the early colonists survive their first harsh winter and continue to strengthen our Nation.

The holiday was also a time for us to renew our bonds with one another, and we can fulfill that commitment by serving our communities and our Nation throughout the year.

Maybe theyll surprise me, but Im willing to bet that a right-wing talk jock near you will soon be declaring the indigenous communities reference as un-American, and the call to service as yet another shout-out to socialism. Well also hear that the document never uses the word prayer, and that its one nod to God is in a quotation from George Washington (unless you count its mention of houses of worship, and the year of Our Lord in the date).

Yes, Im afraid things have gotten so vexed for Obama that Thanksgiving itself has become thankless. As it happens, that proclamation is revealing, but not necessarily in the ways his critics are likely to suggest.

You wonder if Obama will use this brief respite for reflection to ponder how, in a year, he has been transformed from a man once seen as capable of parting raging seas to the object of a terrible hatred on the right and mild disappointment among his allies. His opponents are on the march, his friends are grumpy.

Obama might fairly repair to the comforting thought that he inherited an unparalleled combination of disasters in the economy and foreign policy, and created such a surge of hope that he was expected, unrealistically, to have put everything right by now.

He will eventually get to claim a great victory on health care.

He helped the country avoid financial catastrophe. And isnt he doing pretty well in the polls, given the afflictions of unemployment and other forms of economic carnage? this line of thinking animates the White House. Obamas aides say it reflects a side of him that many have found attractive: a cool, detached confidence in the long-term that refuses to be disturbed by passing controversies and criticisms.

Yet there is a lesson for the president in the rote quality of his Thanksgiving proclamation that is significant only because it reveals Obamas underlying problem: what the document lacked was any sense of fighting spirit, any larger purpose, any gauntlet thrown down before his foes.

Contrast it to a Thanksgiving message Franklin D. Roosevelt offered in 1934 that was unapologetic in declaring his political goals. Our sense of social justice has deepened, Roosevelt insisted. We have been given vision to make new provisions for human welfare and happiness, and in a spirit of mutual helpfulness we have cooperated to translate vision into reality. … We can truly say, what profiteth it a nation if it gain the whole world and lose its own soul.

A year later, Roosevelt was at it again. We can be grateful, he wrote, that selfish purpose of personal gain, at our neighbors loss, less strongly asserts itself.

Roosevelt was no less pragmatic than Obama. He, too, was attacked demagogically as a socialist, and was equally loathed by his adversaries.

Yet Roosevelt was a happy warrior, a phrase he used about Al Smith that actually described FDR himself. He relished taking the fight to his enemies, once boasting: I welcome their hatred.

Obama will have more to be grateful for next Thanksgiving if he accepts that his foes intend to fight him for the next three years.

He needs to discover the joy that FDR took in fighting back, even in official documents that normally pass unnoticed.

E.J. Dionne Jr. is a columnist for the Washington Post. E-mail him atejdionne@washpost.com.

All rights reserved. this copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.

JUPITER, Fla. — Authorities in Florida were searching Saturday for a man police said opened fire on his family after Thanksgiving dinner and killed four people, including his pregnant sister and a 6-year-old cousin who was sleeping in her bed.

There had been “ongoing resentment” in the family, but investigators weren’t sure what specifically prompted the shooting, officials said. Police were looking for Paul Michael Merhige, 35, of Miami. he was believed to be driving a royal blue 2007 Toyota Camry with a rear spoiler and Florida license plate.

Merhige is also accused of gunning down his pregnant sister’s twin and his 79-year-old aunt.

“What led to this incident, we’re not quite sure,” said Jupiter Police Sgt. Scott Pascarella. “It did not appear there was any altercation prior to this shooting.”

Pascarella said Merhige left briefly before returning to the home where 17 relatives had gathered in Jupiter, a small beach town about 90 miles north of Miami. the town is known as a home to celebrities including Michael Jordan and Burt Reynolds.

Pascarella said police first received a 911 call from a neighbor, then another from someone inside the home. the residence, in a well-kept new subdivision with brick-paved driveways, is owned by local TV videojournalist Jim Sitton and his wife. the home was surrounded Friday by yellow crime scene tape and police crime unit vans.

Sitton’s daughter Makayla had gone to bed before the rampage, police said.

“God packed a lot of sweetness into that little body,” Sitton said. “She’s just our life. I don’t know how we are ever going to recover.”

Sitton told local media that his daughter was supposed to perform in a holiday production of “The Nutcracker.” the Florida Classical Ballet Theatre had two shows Friday.

“Makayla was part of our family, and as one of the youngest dancers, she was to be one of Mother Ginger’s Children,” artistic director Colleen Smith said. “She was a beautiful, dear girl. She was a beam.”

The other victims were Merhige’s twin sisters, Carla Merhige and Lisa Knight, and an aunt, Raymonde Joseph. Merhige’s brother-in-law Patrick Knight was in critical but stable condition at a local hospital. another man, Clifford Gebara, 52, was grazed by a bullet.

Carla Merhige was a real estate agent in Miami.

“She was a wonderful agent,” said Joanna Sherman, a manager at Coldwell Banker Residential real estate. “She was very active in the community and in charities. She was just a genuine, beautiful individual. She always had a smile for everybody.”

Neighbors in the Palm Beach County community were shocked as police processed the home.

“Our kids walk the streets by themselves,” said Nicole Kemp, 67, who did not know any of the victims. “I thought it was the safest place to live. I guess it doesn’t matter, if there’s a maniac here.”

Associated Press writers Suzette Laboy and Tamara Lush in Miami contributed to this report.