Three dead in St. Paul shooting

(AP) - A St. Paul woman, her fiance and her teenage daughter were killed Friday after intruders broke into their home.

The attack, which police say they do not believe was random, happened shortly before 7 a.m., police spokesman Tom Walsh said.

A family friend identified the victims as Maria Lynn Mclay, 32, her fiance Otahl "T.C" Webb, 31, and Brittany Mclay, a student at Como Park Senior High School.

Maria Mclay was alive when police responded, but died a short time later at Regions Hospital. The other two victims were dead at the scene.

Police said there were three other people in the house at the time of the shooting. The family friend, Jenny Rouse, said two of the survivors were Maria Mclay's two other children, ages 7 and 10.

"Most likely the people involved knew each other," Walsh said. But he said police weren't sure how many suspects might be involved, and no arrests had been made as of early Friday afternoon.

A woman who described herself as a cousin of one of the victims told WCCO Radio that one of the children who escaped told her that gunmen burst into a back door and demanded money, then shot the three.

Walsh confirmed that the back door of the home was damaged.

The gunmen reportedly shot the three victims in succession after being told there was no money in the house.

The two younger children ran to a nearby cousin's house; it wasn't clear if they escaped or were released. A 17-year-old girl who came to the house a short time later made the initial call to police.

"This is a great family that was lost," Rouse said.

Walsh said police are canvassing the neighborhood in St. Paul's North End where the shooting took place, looking for witnesses.

"This may be a long-term investigation, but this is not going to go unsolved," he said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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