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Friends and family remember the Buckner family

A friend of 18-year-old Kaitlin Buckner who was gunned down inside her home said she texted her friend just goes before she lost her life.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - A friend of 18-year-old Kaitlin Buckner who was gunned down inside her home said she texted her friend just before she lost her life.

"I was having really bad anxiety on Monday night so I texted her and said 'I miss you,'" said Payton Kelly, Kaitlin's best friend. "And she said, 'I miss you, too', and that’s the last thing I ever said to her."

Phoenix police responsed to a 911 call from the Buckner home, the caller stating there was a shooter inside the home.

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Twenty-six year old Alex Buckner is accused of shooting and killing his father Vic, mother Kimberly, and sisters Kaitlin and Emma. The youngest victim was six years old.

Police believe Buckner set the home ablaze and fired shots at responding officers and firefighters as they arrived on the scene.

"I’m happy that (Kaitlin's last text message) was good," said Kelly as she fought back tears. "She’s my best friend and it’s just hard that I’m never going to see her again."

The friends met as juniors at Ironwood High School and graduated in 2015. Buckner was attending Gateway Community College and studying to be an ultra sound tech.

Kelly had dinner with Buckner on Friday and said they had normal conversation about relationships, school and their futures -- nothing out of the ordinary.

"She would always talk about, 'Well, when I have kids you’ll be their aunt,' so it was really hard to hear what happened to her," she said.

Kelly didn’t find out the news until early this morning, after confirming it with another one of Buckner's close friends in Oklahoma.

"It was weird because we didn’t talk (Tuesday), but we usually do. I just figured she was busy with school," she said.

The Buckner's home that is still surrounded by crime scene tape was where Kelly was planning a spring break vacation just over a week ago.

"I saw Emma, her dad and her mom and they all seemed to be just fine," she said.

Kelly went on to share she never saw much of Buckner's older brother, who mostly kept to himself.

I know that her brother lived at their house, but he was not actively around. He would just kind of sit in his room and do his own thing," she said.

Friends of Kaitlin are planning a vigil for Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Buckner home.

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