Tributes have been left at the scene of a fatal shooting in Kent on Valentine’s Day.

A woman in her 40s was killed outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt just 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.

Kent Police said they believed the suspect was known to the victim.

They also said call handlers received reports of a man “on the wrong side of the barrier” on the Dartford Bridge.

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”.