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Among their friends, Shannon Hannah is known as the studious girl and Dean Brown as the bad boy she dated until they broke up recently.

Before dawn yesterday, someone drove up to the Hannah residence, near Belleville, Ont., and began firing.

Ms. Hannah, 18, was severely wounded. Her mother, Tracy, and her 14-year-old sister, Whitney, were shot dead.

Another teenaged girl, a friend of Whitney who was present for a sleepover, survived by hiding in a closet.

Later in the morning, after a manhunt, police arrested Mr. Brown, 18, who is expected to be charged in connection with the shooting.

The bloodbath shocked friends and relatives of Ms. Hannah and Mr. Brown, who were well known in a circle of students at the local high schools and at Loyalist College.

The pair had dated for at least five years before splitting. "We've all known each others since Grade 6," said Ashley Shattraw, a friend of Ms. Hannah who said she was racked with guilt because she helped get them together.

Ms. Hannah works at a local Chinese buffet while studying to be a nurse at Loyalist, where Mr. Brown planned to enroll to finish Grade 12.

During their relationship, Mr. Brown was known for losing his temper when he was drunk, a friend said.

Another friend said Mr. Brown has a wild side. "One time he tried to rob the beer store with a brick. He stole his grandpa's truck and crashed it. And laughed and said he loved the insurance money."

Friends gave conflicting accounts of who decided to end the relationship, a few weeks ago.

The evening before the shooting, Mr. Brown was planning to go to Matt and Joe's Nightclub in Belleville.

"Pay day ... gettin drunk now ... mj"s soon," he wrote on his Facebook page.

A friend, Adrian Hernandez, suggested they have "pre-drinks."

Mr. Hernandez then wrote an invitation on Ms. Hannah's Facebook page: "mjs :)"

She declined, then made light of Mr. Hernandez plying her ex-boyfriend with drinks: "u dumbie askin dean to pre drink with you bahahaha ugh not a good scene!"

"Sleeep welll," Mr. Hernandez replied.

Andrew Bury, a friend of Mr. Brown, told the Belleville Intelligencer that they stayed at Matt and Joe's until about 1 a.m., when he lost sight of his friend.

The Hannahs live south of Belleville, in a bungalow in Ameliasburgh, in Prince Edward County.

A neighbour told CTV News that his daughter was present during the shooting and stayed alive by hiding. She gave a statement to the Ontario Provincial Police.

It was Ms. Hannah's father, Ted, who called police after returning home shortly after 6 a.m. and finding his wife and daughters had been shot, another neighbour said.

Ms. Hannah, who was airlifted to Kingston General Hospital, was in serious but stable condition.

During the ensuing manhunt, at least eight schools in the Belleville area were locked down until about 10 a.m., when police confirmed they had arrested a suspect in Trenton, a short drive west of Belleville.

Reports said he was picked up without incident shortly after 9:30 a.m. at an auto repair shop in Trenton's commercial district.

Police would not identify the suspect but said an 18-year-old will appear in court this morning to be formally charged.

The charges are expected to include two counts of first-degree murder, said Sergeant Kristine Rae of the Quinte West OPP detachment in Trenton

With a report from Timothy

Appleby

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