Sevenoaks shooting suspect believed dead

KentOnline / KMTV

A top Kent Police officer says he's confident that the suspect believed to have shot Lisa Smith outside a pub in Knockholt is dead.   It comes after nearly a week of searching the Thames near Dartford, where a vehicle linked to the killing was last spotted.  But questions of what happened still remain unanswered, as Kristin Hawthorne has been finding out...

Transcript

00:00The female, Lisa, was in the pub at the time and she came outside where she was confronted

00:04by the male before being fatally shot. Four gunshots were fired at the time and unfortunately

00:10two of them were fatal to Lisa.

00:12Do we know what type of weapon was used?

00:15It was a handgun, illegally held handgun.

00:18After days of searching, police believe that the man suspected of murdering his partner,

00:22Lisa Smith, on Valentine's Day has died.

00:26On the day of the tragedy, just before midnight on the Dartford crossing, Kent police discovered

00:31the vehicle and firearm believed to be linked to the incident. These are thought to belong

00:35to Lisa's partner, Edward Stockings, who is the prime suspect. But after days of searching

00:41the water with drones, they're confident he is no longer alive.

00:45So obviously there were concerns of a vehicle that stopped at the highest point of the QE2

00:49bridge on Friday evening. A number of witnesses have seen a male alight that vehicle. We've

00:54got CCTV evidence as well, which gives me total confidence that the suspect has fallen

00:58into the river. Around midday on Saturday, we did a sighting of a body. Unfortunately,

01:02we were unable to recover that before it became submerged again. But I'm confident from the

01:06description that it's the suspect at our offence.

01:09As floral tributes line the scene, the motive behind the shooting remains unclear. But it

01:14is believed that there is no ongoing risk to the community.

01:18We've had a really good response to the witness appeal. Many, many people were there at the

01:23time. And I'd like to say thank you to those that attended to Lisa and tried to recover

01:29from her fatal wounds.

01:30The BBC reported that just two hours after the shooting, Stockings made a chilling phone

01:36call to a family friend saying, she's dead. I love you. I'll see you on the other side.

01:43The friend added that he was baffled at what had happened, describing the pair as the life

01:48and soul of the party.

01:50For now, the search for the suspect's body continues, while a full inquest into what

01:55has happened is yet to be announced.

01:58Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV.

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