The normally peaceful environs of Fearrington Village and its Galloway Ridge retirement community erupted into a terrifying scene Wednesday morning.

A 911 call brought law enforcement teams swarming to the bucolic community along U.S. 15-501 between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. Crime tape swiftly went up around the scene. A med-evac helicopter landed, loaded and took off again, bound for UNC Hospitals.

As is often the case in fast-developing situations, the first reports were sketchy and confused. Initial calls indicated that there had been a multiple shooting with at least one fatality. Robbery was called the probable motive, and officers carrying rifles fanned out in search of a man who had been reported as the assailant.

By the next day, the account had changed dramatically -- there had been no shooting, the suspect taken into custody was a woman, and officers said it appeared that a dispute, not a break-in, led to the assault.

Tragically, the one part of the initial reports we most hoped would turn out to be errant -- one person dead, two badly injured -- was accurate.

A Pittsboro woman was charged with first-degree murder Thursday after Wednesday's attack at Galloway Ridge, which left 92-year-old Margaret Murta dead and Mary Corcoran, 82, and Rebecca Fisher, 77, severely injured. Officers said the victims were beaten with a blunt object, probably a cane, and all three sustained massive trauma. Officials said the suspect had worked as a housekeeper for Murta, who had asked her to come to her apartment Wednesday to discuss some stolen checks.

The assault shook residents of Fearrington Village and beyond. The vulnerability of the victims, the ferocity of the violence and its terrible consequences were horrific. It was especially shocking in a place like Fearrington, which is about as serene a setting as you can imagine.

As the legal process plays itself out and the injured victims make what we hope is a full recovery, the incident is yet another harsh reminder of how fragile our comfortable and well-ordered lives can be, of how swiftly and suddenly the world can turn upside down.

It's human nature, in the day to day, to forget that. Pehaps, to some extent, we have to, simply in order to get done the thousand things that need doing. And after all, almost every day chugs along pretty much the way we foresee it.

But, as we learned again last week, that can change in an instant, blowing our casual certainty to the winds.

The point isn't to live in fear or dread of terrible things happening, but to remind yourself not to take for granted the people and things that matter. It's precisely because life is uncertain that they are precious.