ERIE — The friendly man across the street would often carry groceries into the house of 69-year-old Barbara Montalvo, who is disabled. On Thursday, the woman he lived there with asked about her welfare. On Friday, the man waved hello as she was out in the yard with her dog.

On Saturday, the man and woman were both dead, along with their two young daughters, after shootings that authorities believe the man carried out. Police identified the woman as Jamie Malanowski, 28, but were withholding the names of the man, 29, and the two girls, ages 4 and 7.

The sole survivor appeared to be a 2-year-old boy, who’s now recovering in a hospital.

“They were such sweet people,” Montalvo said Sunday. “I’ve never seen an argument or a bad anything between them. They were sweet. She worked; he stayed home and took care of the kids.

If Malanowski hadn’t seen her in a while, Montalvo said, she would come over and ask if she was all right.

“I’d see them sitting out back in the evenings on their little porch,” she said. “The girls, I’d see them out playing in the backyard. It’s so sad.”

Montalvo said the couple had lived there for less than a year.

“All that’s going through my head is, ‘Did those kids realize what was going on?”‘ Montalvo said.

Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri said the two had apparently had some kind of estrangement, and they are looking into reports that the woman might have moved out. He said the woman had left work to go to the store but also decided to check on the children, whom she was supposed to pick up that afternoon.