Victims of Thanksgiving shootings

Authorities are scouring South Florida this morning for Michael Merhige, the 35-year-old Miami-area man police believe shattered a family Thanksgiving dinner in Jupiter, fatally shooting his twin sisters and his 76-year-old aunt, and killing his 6-year-old niece as she slept in her bed.

"God packed a lot of sweetness into that little body," Jim Sitton, shaken and ashen, told reporters this morning. The photographer for WPTV-TV Channel 5 found himself on the other side of the camera in the worst way: 6-year-old Makayla Sitton was his only daughter and Lisa and Carla Merhige, both 33, were his sisters, according to the station's web site.

Jupiter police say 17 invited friends and relatives were packed into the home at 104 Via Veracruz, near Military Trail and Indiantown Road.

"I heard three quick shots. Shortly after, I heard the police cars and the helicopters," said Vera Armstrong, who was house-sitting for her daughter about three houses away from the salmon-colored, barrel-tiled Sitton home. "I called my daughter and she said, 'Oh no, don't tell me it was Makayla'."

Neighbors recalled a wide-eyed, polite young girl who loved dogs. Her parents recently purchased her a King Charles Spaniel named Abby. Makayla was planning to perform today in the Nutcracker at the Eissey Theater in Palm Beach Gardens.

"I just talked to her two days ago. When we moved here two years ago, Makayla and her parents came right over to welcome us. What a wonderful family," said Jackie Feldman, who lives in the neighborhood of new, well-trimmed homes near Jupiter Community High School.

Feldman said the little girl was home-schooled.

She said the families often talked, particularly about their daughters who were close in age and their dogs, who shared a given name: Abby.

"I don't understand how a person could shoot a little girl while she was lying in her bed," Feldman asked this morning. "What could possibly be so wrong in your life that you would do that?"

Police said Merhige shot the two women, his aunt, Raymonde Joseph, and his brother, Patrick McKnight, and shot little Makayla as she slept in her bed, police said. A cousin, Clifford Gebara, 52, was also injured.

How many shots were fired has not been determined.

"We have determined it was a handgun by the shell casings," said Jupiter Police Spokesman Scott Pascarella.

The parents of Makayla, who was an only child, were not shot.

A man looking like Merhige drove toward the Sitton home about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, said Carole Turano, a neighbor who was walking her dog.

"He looked confused. We saw him drive up to the house. I recognized the photo when I saw him on television," Turano said.

Merhige fled in a blue 4-door Toyota with Florida tag W42 7JT, police said.

McKnight remains in the hospital this morning; there's no immediate word on his condition.

This morning, authorities began to gather evidence inside the home after waiting most the night for a search warrant.

Jupiter police had raced to the home just after 10 p.m. after getting numerous 911 calls, spokesman Sgt. Scott Pascarella reported at 2 a.m. Friday.

The first call to 911 came from neighbors who heard gunfire, the second call came from within the home.

"Then we heard all the helicopters," said neighbor Fran Labossiere, referring to the Trauma Hawks that delivered the victims to St. Mary's Medical Center. "And all the police cars. It was scary."

The Red Cross Disaster Team will provide lodging for the family through the weekend. The Red Cross got the call at 2am and were on site until 8am.

"The family was tired and cold and couldn't go back home," Kazel-Wilcox said. "Everyone was shaken up."