Allegheny County police questioned a man for six hours over the holiday weekend because of his relationship with the victims of a double homicide Friday morning in Stowe, said Assistant Superintendent Jim Morton.

Police extensively questioned Wendell Jones, 55, because he was an ex-boyfriend of Sonsiarae Watts and a friend of Dahl Palm, Mr. Morton said.

Mr. Jones was the defendant in a protection-from-abuse order that Ms. Watts filed June 4 in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Family Division.

"We questioned him, but no arrest has been made and the case is still open as we sort through more evidence," Mr. Morton added.

Police said Mr. Palm, 44, and Ms. Watts, 45, died of multiple gunshot wounds about 4:30 a.m. in Ms. Watt's apartment at 1096 Valley St., where they both lived.

In her protection-from-abuse order, Ms. Watts said that Mr. Jones "punched me in the temple [twice] so hard, I passed out. Then I was struck three more times, breaking my nose and receiving contusions and bruises all over my arms, legs and body."

Ms. Watts also stated that Mr. Jones stalked and harassed her and had threatened to kill her.

She wrote in the protection order that he had told her: "I should have killed you. No one will ever have you. I will blow your brains out, go home, sleep, wake up and kill myself."

A day before a court hearing scheduled for June 19, Ms. Watts withdrew her protection-from-abuse order against Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones could not be reached for comment.

Standing outside the red brick duplex where Ms. Watts and Mr. Palm lived, Jeanneanea Henchell said yesterday that the neighborhood was still reeling from the shock of the Friday morning killings.

"I still can't believe this happened," said Ms. Henchell, as she placed a small vase of purple flowers on the stoop of the house, across from Sto-Rox High School on Valley Street.

"They were pretty quiet people," she said. "They had a few people over at the house sometimes, but they were peaceful people who didn't bother anybody."

Regina Heckert, who has lived in the neighborhood for 13 years, said the killings shattered the peace of what is mostly a sleepy street, lined with rows of single-family houses a few blocks from downtown McKees Rocks.

"It makes me feel scared for something like that to happen in your back yard," Ms. Heckert said.

A weekend office clerk at Ohio Valley Hospital, Mrs. Heckert said she thought nothing of the shots when she heard them early Friday as she woke and got ready for work.

"It sounded like a tapping noise and I didn't think much of it until I heard a woman screaming outside," she said. "It is really a shame for something like this to happen. It has made us all sad."