Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A terrified woman was shot dead by her ex at an Aldi checkout just hours after telling the authorities he was stalking her.

Victim Irina Gibert, 53, had fled into the store in the town of Schwalmstadt-Treysa, in the German state of Hesse, on Tuesday, 14th June, at about 1 PM, when she realised her 58-year-old former boyfriend was following her.

But as she begged staff for help, the jilted ex followed her into the supermarket.

One witness told local media she “ran into the supermarket and yelled loudly for help”.

Irina was saved briefly by a heroic Aldi branch manager who stood between the pair.

But he was forced to step away when the gunman pulled out a rapid-fire pistol made by Belgian manufacturer Fabrique Nationale (FN), for which he did not have a licence, and shot her four times before turning the gun on himself.

The manager – identified only as Y. in local media – is said to be receiving psychiatric counselling.

Irina had previously dated her killer for several months after meeting him online but broke it off last February.

German daily Bild reports that she contacted the emergency services the night before she was murdered because her ex-boyfriend was threatening her in her apartment.

Three patrol cars were dispatched to the scene but the police reportedly dismissed the case and said her ex was behaving “inconspicuously and calmly”.

Just hours before she was killed, mother-of-two Irina had reportedly filed a complaint against her ex for assault, coercion and stalking.