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A beloved New Jersey public school teacher was allegedly shot and killed by her husband in what authorities are calling “an act of domestic violence.”
Lucas Cooper, 39, was arrested on Jan. 24 in Pennsylvania, after an hours-long manhunt in connection with the shooting death of 35-year-old Tamara King, of Jersey City, according to a press release from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office. He is charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and weapons offenses.
Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jersey City police officers were called around 7:10 a.m. to the woman’s third floor apartment on a report of a shooting, the release states. There, police said they found King’s body with gunshot wounds.
The victim was taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead just after 8:05 a.m., authorities said.
According to NBC New York, sources said the couple’s 14-year-old daughter called 911 and claimed her father shot her mother multiple times, but the daughter was reportedly unharmed. It is unclear at this time if the daughter witnessed the fatal incident.
King was an “outstanding educator and dedicated faculty member,” at Public School Number 5, Jersey City Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Norma Fernandez said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
“She will be missed and our prayers go to her family as they cope with the tragedy.”
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Cooper was quickly identified as a suspect by investigators, who later found him in Bethlehem, Pa, with help from the U.S. Marshals Service, Pennsylvania State Police, and other law enforcement agencies.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the defendant “is currently being detained at the Lehigh County Jail pending extradition to New Jersey.”
It also wasn’t immediately clear if Cooper had entered a plea or retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.