Fatal attack ends volatile Norton saga
Woman is shot to death, 2 daughters critically hurt
NORTON -- Neighbors knew Robert McDermott as a man who believed neighborhood children were plotting to gang up on him. He hid in the bushes with a camera to catalog their identities, they say. He also had a volatile relationship with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, with whom he fought frequently. Relatives were so alarmed by his recent behavior that they called police Friday.
Sometime between late Saturday and late Sunday, police say, McDermott, 39, shot his girlfriend in the head with a .44-caliber revolver as she lay in bed, killing her. He also allegedly shot in the head two of the woman's three daughters, leaving them critically injured in a second-floor hallway, and killed the family dog. He left the scene and drove to commuter rail tracks in Walpole, where he stood between the rails and shot himself seconds before he was crushed by an onrushing train.
The girls, 15-year-old Danielle Cann and her 12-year-old sister Brittany, are in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital. It is not known whether they will survive, police said. Neighbors said the eldest daughter, who is 18, was on vacation in Florida at the time of the shooting.
Authorities did not release the name of the mother, but neighbors identified her as 44-year-old Elizabeth Cann, who was a manicurist at Nu Image Nails in Norton.
"She was a sweet, nice generous person, fun to be with," said Marlene Colageo, a former neighbor who had worked with Cann at the nail salon. "I can't believe anybody would do this."
The homicide, the first in Norton in 12 years, shattered a tranquil suburban neighborhood of modest two-story bungalows and ranch houses flying American flags. Reservoir Street, where Cann and her daughters lived, hugs the woody banks of Norton Reservoir, where neighbors said the biggest local problems tend to be rowdy teenagers.
"It's kind of like any other suburban neighborhood," said Charles Jenkins, who has lived on nearby North Highland Road for seven years. "There's definitely a lot of young kids and teenagers around, so, in that sense, it's not like at dusk, all you can hear is nothing, but I would consider it quiet in terms of crime."
But McDermott was a problem, neighbors said. They said teenagers sometimes threw eggs at Cann's house, where McDermott lived intermittently. McDermott would later hide in the bushes, photographing children in a field behind the house, neighbors said.
McDermott believed the children had formed a neighborhood gang that he said was called the Pink Panthers. "He was a real whacko," said neighbor Alma Rushia.
At Nu Image, Colageo said she would often hear Cann arguing with McDermott on the phone. And Cann had tried at points to break up with him, Colageo said.
Two years ago, Cann took out a restraining order against McDermott, although it had expired. In 2004 and 2005, someone called the state Department of Social Services to report that McDermott was neglecting Cann's daughters. Case workers visited the home but took no action, finding that conditions were not serious enough to warrant a full investigation, said Michael MacCormack, a DSS spokesman.
In recent weeks, Cann's relatives worried that the relationship had worsened, police said. It was unclear whether McDermott had been living at the house recently.
A relative called police to check on Cann Friday, then called again and told them everything was OK, said Detective Sergeant Brian Clark. Police never went to the house.
"Right now, this seems to be a tragic domestic violence incident, and our hearts go out to the family of those involved," Clark said.
Late Saturday or Sunday, McDermott shot Cann and her two daughters with a handgun he did not have a license to own, police said. He was seen next at 5:40 a.m. yesterday, standing with the revolver on the tracks just west of the Windsor Gardens Station on the Franklin Commuter Rail Line.
The engineer saw McDermott shoot himself. The engineer braked, but was unable to stop the locomotive before it ran over McDermott.
Police did not connect the death on the tracks to the shootings in Norton until 9:30 a.m., when the girls' father and his wife went to check on Cann. Discovering the bodies inside, the wife ran out of the house screaming and the father called 911 on his cellphone, neighbors said.
"I feel horrible for them," said neighbor Christina Jenkins, who saw the distraught couple shortly after they discovered the bodies.
Those who knew Cann and her children were in shock yesterday.
Johnna Masala, program director at the Norton YMCA, said her son was a close friend of Brittany Cann, who loved acting, and had played a pirate in a YMCA production last year. The girl, a seventh grader at Norton Middle School, had also organized a "Middle School Fun Night," with races and games at the Y, Masala said.
"She was a sweetheart," Masala said, "a very well-liked, all-around nice kid."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 