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Pro-immigration British MP and mother-of-two shot and stabbed to death by a man yelling "Britain First."

Just hours ago Jo Cox, a rising British MP and mother of a little boy and girl farewelled her two children to go to work. She was in her local area, in the library, speaking with members of her constituency about their issues.

A normal day’s work for this 41-year-old much liked member of parliament.

She is now dead, after being gunned down and stabbed to death as she left the Birstall Library, near Leeds.

A shocking brutal crime in broad daylight that has sent shockwaves through the UK just a week before the crucial ‘Brexit’ referendum.

Jo Cox, a Labour MP, devoted her life to “justice and human rights.”

The mother-of-two was reportedly shot in the face three times and attacked with a knife.

Cox had been vocal about campaigning for the No vote in the upcoming Brexit vote.

It is now just one week from the referendum when the British people will decide whether Britain should leave the European Union.

In a post on her official Twitter account Wednesday, Ms. Cox posted a photograph of her husband and children on a boat on the Thames holding a campaign flag emblazoned with “In” paired with the message “because we’re #StrongerIn.”

Campaigning on both sides of the referendum debate has temporarily halted in light of Cox’s death.

Cox’s death has left the country “in shock and grief,” Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement.

“Jo Cox died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve,” Corbyn said in the statement.

It is reported that the suspect shouted “Britain first” before the shooting and during the arrest.

The right wing, anti-immigrant and anti-Islam group Britain First denied any link to the shooting on their website.

Police say they have a 52-year-old man in custody, named as local man Tommy Mair.

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Mair, who lived a council estate in Birstall was described by neighbours as “very quiet but very helpful” reports The Telegraph.

He had lived in the house for 40 years.

“I don’t think he belonged to any political party and I never heard him express any views about Europe or anything like that. To us, he was just Tommy, a local bloke we all knew.” One neighbour said.

A 77-year-old man also sustained injuries, but his weren’t life threatening.

Cox was known for her commitment to her ideals.

In her maiden speech last year she said “Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”

 

Forensic police arrive at the scene after Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by an attacker. Via Getty.

Ms Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox has urged people to fight against the hate that killed her and to uphold her values.

“Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives,” he said

“ More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.”

“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.

“She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisionous,” he said. “Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.”