Family Hit Hard By Grief And Tragedy Hours After Favorite Niece Was Shot And Killed, Her Uncle Was Found Dead Of A Heart Attack

The last time the McMichael family was all together was Thanksgiving Day.

They gathered at the Old Country Buffet in the Spokane Valley for a good time and a feast. As usual, 14-year-old Breanna sat next to her uncle Norman.

“They were very, very close,” said Dianne Sullivan, Breanna’s mother.

So close, the family will bury the two together today.

Breanna and Norman McMichael lost their lives within hours of each other Monday morning.

Breanna died first when a friend, playing with a gun, accidently shot her. Grief-stricken, the friend shot himself to death.

Hours later, the family found Breanna’s uncle dead from a heart attack, apparently caused by heroin.

Family members don’t know if the deaths are linked. They could just be a sad coincidence. Or, as with the young man who accidently shot Breanna and then turned the gun on himself, Norman’s death could have stemmed from grief.

“We just don’t know,” said Sullivan. “But we know they were always together.”

In just a few hours, a difficult year became almost unbearable for the McMichaels, who have endured injuries, illness and Breanna’s rape by a carnival worker in March.

They will bury both loved ones today after a joint funeral service at Pines Baptist Church. Niece and uncle will share a plot at Pines Cemetery. Family members say it’s fitting because they were so close.

Norman will be cremated, and his ashes will be placed over Breanna’s heart.

“I know my brother would want it that way,” said Breanna’s father, Bob McMichael.

Breanna’s mother was home with her four children the night of the shooting. She was sleeping when the gun accidently went off in the living room, where a group of teens had been watching videos just after 3 a.m.

She refuses to return to the rented house. She’s been staying at a motel and with friends. She doesn’t know where she’ll go next.

“We’re just not doing well at all,” said the single mom, who had faced Breanna’s painful rape trial and recovery earlier this year.

A carnival worker kidnapped the girl from a Spokane Valley convenience store in March, tying her up and raping her repeatedly. The rapist was sentenced last month to 32 years in prison.

The family was trying to help Breanna return to a more normal life. Sullivan had enrolled her in karate and kick boxing classes for self-confidence and self-defense.

But they couldn’t defend her from a stray bullet.

“We’re going to find out how strong we are now,” said Breanna’s dad, who lives in the Seattle area but is now staying at his father’s house in the Valley. It’s also the house where his brother, Norman, lived for the last 15 years. And where he died Monday morning.

Norman, 41, spent those years caring for their father, who has suffered several serious strokes. He didn’t work, because of a back injury and numerous surgeries. He continued to have pain, which might explain the heroin use, relatives said.

Now, besides burying two loved ones, the family must decide who will care for Dalen Sr.

“In three days, there is so much that has happened to us,” Bob McMichael said.

He admits the deaths of his daughter and brother haven’t fully hit him. His only comfort is knowing they’ll be together.

“Even when she was a baby and was fussy,” McMichael said, “Norman would hold her and calm her down.”

, DataTimes