---

NORTON - The two sisters shot in a brutal weekend attack that left their mother dead were still in critical condition at a Providence hospital on Wednesday night, as memorial services were announced and new details emerged about the shooter's violent past.

A hospital spokeswoman said the conditions of Danielle Cann, 15, and her sister Brittany, 12, were not expected to change overnight.

In published reports on Wednesday, family members of the girls' father, Wayne Cann of Easton, said they did not know if the girls would survive.

Danielle was set to have surgery to take out bone and bullet fragments, they said, but Brittany was not stable enough for surgery. Both were said to have brain swelling.

In Norton, a group of young people gathered for the third evening in a row at the Cann family home at 384 Reservoir St., where they lit candles for the victims. The funeral for Elizabeth Cann, the girls' mother, has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John the Evangelist Church at 700 Washington St. in Canton

Cann's funeral will be officiated by the Rev. Bernard Hinckley, the pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Norton, where Cann was a devoted longtime congregant. The service is being held at the Canton church to accommodate the large crowd that is expected, according to a statement on Trinitarian's Web site.

A wake will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Dockray & Thomas Funeral Home at 455 Washington St. in Canton.

Cann's burial will be private.

Police and the Bristol County District Attorney's office continue to investigate the crime, although little new information was released.

Authorities still believe the shootings took place sometime after Saturday night, but autopsy results did not indicate the exact time of Elizabeth Cann's death. The results did confirm that Cann was murdered by a gunshot.

Autopsy results also confirmed that Cann's killer, her ex-boyfriend, Robert McDermott, committed suicide and died of multiple trauma. McDermott shot himself, using the same gun that killed Elizabeth Caan and wounded her daughters, on the MTBA tracks in Walpole early Monday morning. He was then hit by an oncoming train. Police believe he shot himself just before the train crushed him.

"Everything points to him as the shooter," said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the district attorney, and there are no other suspects.

He said all that's left for investigators is to process the evidence, try to fill out the timeline of events, and pray for the recovery of the two Cann sisters.

In the hours after the shooting, a Ford Aerostar van belonging to Elizabeth Cann was discovered in Norwood, where police believe McDermott left it before heading to the train tracks to commit suicide. A spokesman for the district attorney's office said investigators do not believe he spoke to anyone after he shot the Canns.

Details also continued to emerge about previous girlfriends who alleged they were abused by McDermott, with some reports dating back as far as the late 1980s.

In a filing obtained at Dedham District Court by Boston-based WHDH-TV, one of McDermott's former girlfriends described the abuse she received at his hands.

"I know he is capable of causing harm," she wrote. "When I was nine months pregnant he threw me down on the ground and three people pulled him off me. ... I do not want him to come near me, my daughter, or even phone me. I'm afraid of him."

Norwood Police also said a woman there had an active restraining order against McDermott at the time of his suicide.

An assistant to the McDermott family's attorney told The Sun Chronicle that his family does not yet wish to comment on the murder-suicide beyond a statement released by the family Tuesday expressing sympathy for the Canns.

No memorial service has been scheduled for McDermott, she said.

Ted Nesi can be reached at 508-236-0434 or at tnesi@thesunchronicle.com.

Sun Chronicle staff writer David Linton contributed to this report.