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Woman killed in Columbus County hospital shooting

A 51-year-old woman was fatally shot in the head as she left a hospital in Columbus County Friday morning.

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WHITEVILLE, N.C. — A 51-year-old woman was fatally shot in the head as she left a hospital in Columbus County Friday morning.

The Fayetteville Observer and other media outlets reported that the shooting happened around 7 a.m. outside Columbus Regional Healthcare System in Whiteville.

The victim, Joan Everett, of Chadbourn, was leaving the hospital after a visit with her mother when she was shot at close range with a handgun, the paper said.

WECT-TV in Wilmington reported that the shooter was Everett's estranged husband, Elijah Jones, and that he drove himself to the Columbus County Sheriff's Office shortly after the shooting and surrendered.

The TV station also reported that Everett's boyfriend, Bobby Ray Shipman, was shot in the leg.

Police told WECT-TV that Jones had recently started threatening his wife.

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