'A really great soul': Friends, family gather to remember Lodi salon owner following deadly shooting
A deadly shooting in Woodbridge took the life of a beloved Lodi salon owner. Her friends and family are grappling with the devastating loss.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to reports of a disturbance in the 900 block of East Academy Street just after midnight Friday. When deputies arrived, they found 43-year-old Nicole Winans with a gunshot wound.
The shooting is being investigated as a homicide.
Officials identified the suspect as her husband, 50-year-old Shane Winans. He was arrested and booked into the San Joaquin Jail for murder and willful cruelty to a child.
Friends and family gathered to remember Nicole Winans outside of her salon in Downtown Lodi on Friday night.
“I can't fathom why or how any of this happened,” Michael Collins said. “She did everything she could to try to help people, make people happy. And she was just a wonderful, wonderful person. She's going to be greatly missed.”
“She was a wonderful, wonderful woman. She was just always so happy,” Belen Salazar said. “Everybody loved her, you know? She was just a great soul, a really great soul.”
“It's just really unfortunate that something so cruel can happen to someone that is such a bright light,” Nikki Just said. “She just impacted everyone and just everyone loved her as a person.”
“We have a journal for everybody to write in and say how much they loved her and we're going to give it to her kids just so like they remember their mom and they know how much everybody else around loved her,” Michael Pyles said.
Nicole Winans leaves behind two young children.
Shane Winans is expected to appear in court on Dec. 10.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text 'START' to 88788.
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