The community is remembering the three people killed Saturday in the shooting spree that captured the attention of the nation.
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Karen Murphy-Gordon, 52, her daughter Kera, 13, and Taylor Daniel, 25, all of Falls Township’s Levittown section, were killed Saturday. Gordon and her daughter were shot dead in their home on Viewpoint Lane and Daniel was fatally shot inside her family’s home on Edgewood Lane. Daniel’s mother was struck with an AR-15-style rifle but she survived.
Authorities said Andre Gordon Jr., 26, a Pennsbury High School graduate who was homeless, killed his stepmother, sister, and the mother of his two young kids.
A friend of Daniel said she didn’t wish to say much out of respect to the family, but she called her a “great mom who would do anything for her kids,” adding that the young mother tried to provide as many experiences as possible for her kids.
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Daniel previously worked at Sesame Place and Joann’s. She had attended Bucks County Community College.
Molly Brandon-Krywopusk worked with Daniel at Team Toyota in Middletown Township and remembered her co-worker as “such a sweet girl.”
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“Everything was for her kids,” she said.
Donna Patel, center director at KinderCare Langhorne, started a GoFundMe campaign to assist the family of Daniel, the mother of two whose youngest attended the center.
The campaign has raised more than $15,000 by Wednesday.
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“We would like to come together as a community to help this family in any way that we possibly can in order to support Nancy Daniel, Mother of Taylor Daniel and Arianna Gordon to the best of our abilities,” Patel wrote.
“Our hearts are broken,” she added.
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The Penn Valley Elementary School PTO is also contributing to the effort and has launched a fundraiser to support the family. One of Daniel’s daughters is a kindergartner at the school. For more information on the PTO fundraiser, email pennvalleypto@gmail.com.
“Events like these make you want to hold your children and families closer than ever,” said the leaders of the PTO.
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Kera, 13, was an eighth-grader at Charles Boehm Middle School in Lower Makefield Township and was said to be studious. She had a sister who was a grade above her.
The Charles Boehm Middle School PTO was collecting funds for the Gordon family. For more information, email cboehmpto@gmail.com.
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“We extend our deepest condolences to the family for their loss,” the PTO’s leadership said in a letter.
“As we continue to process the events of Saturday, we are learning how many connections there are between the individuals involved and the Pennsbury School District,” said Superintendent Thomas Smith.
“We are grateful to the many community members who have reached out with offers of support. You have my commitment that we will work to support our students and staff members during the days and weeks ahead,” said Smith.
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The district brought in grief counselors to assist students and staff in the wake of the killings.
Murphy-Gordon was liked by her neighbors and was proud of the family’s Jamaican roots. Neighbors recalled the warmth and kindness of Murphy-Gordon, who moved to the Levittown section of Falls Township in 2008.
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Andre Gordon Sr., the father of the alleged killer, married Murphy-Gordon years ago and they shared a home.
Arlene Flanagan organized a GoFundMe for the Gordon family.
The effort raised more than $7,700 as of Wednesday.
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“This neighborhood family were quiet and kept to themselves, bothering no one,” Flanagan wrote.
Shelia Griffin Umek, a colleague from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, recalled Murphy-Gordon as a beacon of joy and support.
“She was my touchstone at work. Always full of encouragement and praise,” Griffin Umek told the Bucks County Courier Times.
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“Karen was so full of joy and happiness. She laughed all the time, cracking herself up. I’d joke your having too much fun at work or what’s so funny I need a laugh too. She’d say you have to laugh at life and problems – life’s too short. She’d talk to her kids everyday when they were on their way home from school, making sure they got home okay and asked how their day was,” Griffin Umek shared on social media.
In addition to her role as a caseworker, Murphy-Gordon was a tax preparer. Her reminders to clients about tax season were often shared on her Facebook account.
The Morning Call newspaper reported Murphy-Gordon served in the U.S. Army in the early 1990s.
Services for the victims have not yet been announced.
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