GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Hundreds of friends, family and community members gathered Monday morning to say goodbye to a father and daughter gunned down in a violent domestic rampage last week.
Valorie Short and her father, Buddy Short, were both killed by Valorie's ex-boyfriend, Murray Lancaster, last Tuesday. Lancaster's ex-wife, Erica Green, was also killed. Both women leave behind two children.
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Lancaster took his own life the same day.
Investigators are still working to determine what sparked Lancaster's killing spree.
Funeral services for the Shorts were held at First Black Creek Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs on Monday.
So many people came that cars lined State Road 16 for about a mile.
“It’s just a terrible thing. Hard to believe it would happen in our little town,” George Platt said. “I just think it’s an emotional thing for the whole community. We didn’t expect this.”
Golf carts were brought in to transport people to the church, which was overflowing with grieving community members. Those in attendance varied from friends who attended high school with Valorie Short to people who had known Buddy Short for decades to those who felt a sense of communal grief from last week's tragic events.
Loved ones attending the funeral said the Green Cove Springs community is close-knit and the families of the victims and the gunman are all well-known in the community.
Funeral services for Erica Green have been arranged for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church in Middleburg.
There has been an outpouring of support for the Short and Green families. Valorie's workplace, Keeping it Classy Salon, held a vigil for the victims and is doing what it can to support the Short family.
"We were lucky to have been graced with her presence and beautiful, always smiling face. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends. I was lucky enough to call her my bestie. I loved her like a sister," said Shelley Danforth, the salon's owner, in a statement.
Many community members have highlighted their hair with shades of magenta, violet, blue and teal in memory of Valorie.
The police chief and mayor of Green Cove Springs will sit down with News4Jax on Tuesday to discuss how members of the police department, many of whom knew the victims, have been impacted by the tragedy.