I would always rule the models within the do NOT take damage.
Regardless of the order of blasts, the various damage output from the shot all happen during the same action, so Merris might be killed but she isn't removed until after the shot has had it's effect, including the blasts.
Choosing to kill a model, and THEN the "delayed" blasts damage others, now without the protective aura from the model killed at the same time, seems an awful lot like the old: "it's doesn't say in the rules that I CAN'T to this..." -argument.
Perhaps that's just me.