Hope Rohde said she'll never forget the hugs her 12-year-old niece, Ciara Meyer, always had for her.

"Every time she saw you she was so happy to see you. Because she had long legs, she had long arms, and the thing you remember most - the thing I feel most around me - are her hugs," Rohde said Wednesday, as the family struggles to come to terms with the girl's death.

Ciara died Monday at her family's apartment in Penn Township, Perry County, after being struck by a bullet fired by a constable at her father, Donald B. Meyer Jr., 57, state police have said.

The bullet traveled through her father's arm and struck Ciara, who was behind her dad.

Constable Clark Steele, 46, was at the home to evict the family after a lengthy court process and fired his .40 caliber weapon at Meyer after the man pointed a loaded semi-automatic rifle at him, police said.

Unlike the last 12 years, Ciara didn't get to celebrate Christmas with her mother's family, said Steff Gehman of Susquehanna Township, sister-in-law of Sherry Meyer, Ciara's mother. Donald Meyer didn't celebrate Christmas, but in past years he would let Ciara and Sherry do so.

"This year he was adamant. It was his belief not to celebrate it," Steff said.

Her only granddaughter never had a Christmas tree or gifts in her home, said Alice Gehman of Susquehanna Township, mother of Sherry Meyer.

Ciara did spend the weekend after New Year's with her mother's family, however.

"We took her out shopping and said, 'Get you what you want,'" Steff said, adding that they bought her clothes and the Monster High dolls she loved.

"She loved dolls, toys, she loved everything. There wasn't nothing you gave her she didn't appreciate," Alice Gehman said.

Ciara loved school

Ciara last spoke with her grandmother Jan. 6, when she called to tell her about her test scores.

"She said 'Gram, gram - I got A on my math test and A in geography, and I didn't even have to study for geography - I knew it all,'" Alice Gehman said. "She said, 'I love you, Grandma,' and I said I love you, too, and that's the last I talked to her."

Ciara, a sixth-grader at Susquenita Middle School, was "like a social butterfly" with lots of friends, and she loved school, said her grandmother.

She hadn't talked about what she wanted to be when she grew up yet, "but she said she just wanted to make a lot of money so she could have a big house," her grandmother said.

Ciara wasn't involved in any after-school activities, but she loved swimming and doing gymnastics outside and was a fast runner, said Rohde, who lives in Halifax.

"She was an amazing little girl," Rohde said. "She had the spirit of an angel - she was so sweet and kind. I never saw her sad or angry."

'Had to grow up fast'

Alice Gehman said she believes Ciara "had to grow up very fast" in the household, because of the issues her parents were experiencing.

"This little girl had a rough life. Even through it all, she was just amazing, just the sweetest child," Rohde said.

"Instead of being 12, she was like 35. I would say she loved life - you never heard a rotten thing come out of her mouth, ever," Gehman said. "Sherry was crazy about this child - she was her best friend," Gehman said of her daughter.

Family struggled

Gehman said Donald and Sherry Meyer lived on Social Security and settlements they were able to obtain. Donald Meyer had been injured on the job and was on disability, she said, while her daughter is recovering from an injury to her knee and wrist suffered in a fall several years ago.

She said she helped the family with rent and food and said they had been evicted from a Lower Paxton Township apartment complex before moving to Perry County.

Rohde said the eviction came because Donald Meyer had a dispute with his landlord about things he wanted fixed in the apartment where they had lived the past two years.

"Instead of working it out with the landlord, he stopped paying rent," she said.

"He had three months to worry about this," Alice Gehman said. The family was waiting to hear about an apartment a social service agency had found for them, she said.

The family believes Donald Meyer tried to isolate his family from others. Rohde said Sherry Meyer was "totally dependent" on her husband: "He controlled everything she did and said."

About a year-and-a-half ago, Ciara lived with her mother's family for two months while Donald and Sherry Meyer were dealing with health issues, Rohde said.

CYS visits

Both Rohde and Gehman said Donald Meyer made threats over the years against his wife and her family, and they feared something might happen.

Rohde said Children & Youth had been called to the home on several occasions.

Perry County Children & Youth Services said it cannot comment on a specific case.

"I continue to say this is where the system really fails, and we need to have greater legislation in place for children in these situations," Rohde said. "You have the family who continues to see this erratic behavior so the family's hands are tied and can do nothing."

'Bad timing'

Gehman said the family doesn't blame the constable for Ciara's death.

"It was not his fault...It was bad timing," Alice Gehman said.

The family has created Ciara's Fund Against Domestic Violence on GoFundMe, which had raised about $5,300 toward a $50,000 goal by this afternoon. The money will be used to help pay funeral expenses and create a scholarship in Ciara's memory in Susquenita School District.