A woman who was shot dead outside a Kent pub on Valentine’s Day has been named by police as Lisa Smith.

Tributes to Ms Smith, 43, from Slough, have been left at the scene of the fatal shooting outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt shortly after 19:00 GMT on Friday.

Flowers and balloons – including one for “Wonderful Mum” – were accompanied by messages such as “rest in peace” and “fly high, pretty lady”.

Police said they found a vehicle containing a gun on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which crosses the River Thames, near Dartford.

Detectives are investigating the possibility that the suspect entered the water.

Police said call handlers had received reports of a man “on the wrong side of the barrier” on the Dartford bridge on Friday.

Officers are continuing to search areas of the River Thames and are focusing their efforts on recovering him from the water, Kent Police said.

The force also said it believed the suspect was known to the victim.

There had been no prior contact between the police and the victim or suspect, and it is not clear if the gun was legally owned.

Rev Tim Edwards, vicar of St Katherine’s church in Knockholt, told BBC Radio Kent how he heard about the shooting.

“I had a text message from one of my church wardens,” he said, “and my immediate reaction was ‘no, that must be a misunderstanding, that doesn’t make sense.’

“As I’ve spoken to people, that sort of feeling has been replicated.

“There is a sense of shock, that is the word that every single person I have spoken to has used.

“It just doesn’t feel real, this sort of thing doesn’t happen. It’s the sort of thing you see on television, it’s not the sort of thing you see here in your own village.”

He added the community was “doing what village communities do” by supporting each other, “pulling together and looking after one another”.

Steve Maines, a parish councillor in Knockholt, previously said he heard a “commotion” outside the pub on Friday night.

He said: “We were sitting having our Valentine’s Day meal when all of a sudden we heard this huge commotion outside in the car park.

“We were told someone had been shot, so we had to leave.”

Local resident Dorothy Wong added: “I heard around three to four bangs outside and loud shouting from a woman’s voice.”

The Three Horseshoes is located about five miles (8km) north-west of Sevenoaks.

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Source: www.bbc.com