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A Mechanicsburg man who died in a New Year’s Eve shooting was alive during a 911 call reporting the shooting and apparently took his own life before authorities could get to his home.
The Champaign County Sheriff’s Office released a recording of the 911 call Tuesday and now report Joe Hooper, 51, allegedly shot his wife, Pamelia Hooper, 48, in the right forehead before shooting himself.
Pamelia Hooper was taken by medical helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. She remains there but her condition could not be released, hospital officials said.
According to the 911 tape, Larkmond Freeze, a friend of the Hoopers, called 911 dispatchers around 1:40 p.m. The wife had been shot but she was breathing although unresponsive.
Joe Hooper wasn’t injured before or during the 10-minute call.
“Her husband was with her. He had the gun at the table and somehow or another, it’s gone off,” Freeze said during the call as reported by the Springfield News-Sun. “He’s crying and all upset.”
Sheriff Matt Melvin declined to release further details.
An autopsy is set for Joe Hooper.