A woman fatally shot in the throat as she sat in her Range Rover was on a break from her husband, friends have revealed.
Cheryl Hooper, 51, was gunned down in England in front of her 14-year-old daughter, with the mother remembered as the “perfect devoted wife.”
A long-term friend of Cheryl, who did not want to be named, said: “I was aware that Cheryl and Jonathan had split up and she had moved out.
“They seemed like a happy couple and had only been married a couple of years.”
She added: “She was a perfect devoted wife. She loved her daughter who was from a previous marriage and loved, as far as we know, Jonathan.
“I don’t know the exact circumstances about why they split up but I knew there had been problems and she had moved out.
“As far as I knew she was not seeing anyone else and it was a temporary break.
“Everybody who knew her is numb. They can’t believe something so awful has happened to her.”
Friends and family have been left reeling after the tragedy, with Hooper’s daughter running to neighbors after the Friday tragedy, sobbing: “My mum’s been shot.”
Forensic officers are now examining the scene of the shooting outside a home in Newport, Shropshire, with a man found seriously injured at a nearby property since arrested by police. Newport is a town in England northwest of Birmingham.
He had suffered severe gunshot wounds to the face but police said his shooting was not being treated as suspicious.
Last night he was recovering at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham while detectives waited to interview him.
Cheryl had recently split from farmer husband John, 45, despite the couple only marrying in 2016.
She had moved into a new home with her daughter a month ago.
Shortly after she was shot in the throat at point-blank range on Friday night.
West Mercia Police said investigations were continuing.