Staff Photo by Angela Lewis A Hamilton County sheriff's deputy walks into the office of Signal Mountain Chiropractic Friday morning. Chiropractor Terrance Loher was shot and the suspected shooter is his ex-wife, Tina Loher of Eidson, Tenn. She is being questioned at the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

The woman charged with shooting her ex-husband at Signal Mountain Chiropractic Clinic on Friday morning was not a bad person, her 7-year-old daughter told others -- she was just mad.

"They were scared," said Karen Chattin-Davis, office coordinator for Prudential, a real estate business in the same shopping center as the clinic. Prudential employees sheltered the woman's two children -- who were waiting in the car while their mother went inside her former husband's clinic -- after the shooting.

"The 7-year-old knew what was going on and knew what (her mom) was going to do," Ms. Chattin-Davis said.

Tina Loher, 41, of Eidson, Tenn., was charged with attempted first-degree murder and two counts of reckless endangerment, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.

Her ex-husband, Terry Loher, was shot in the leg inside his chiropractic business in Ashley Plaza about 9:30 a.m., sheriff's officials said. He was in critical condition at Erlanger hospital Friday evening after surgery, according to the sheriff's office.

When deputies arrived at the clinic Friday morning, they found Mr. Loher had been shot in the leg and Mrs. Loher had a head wound, according to the sheriff's office.

Prudential employees said Ms. Loher's daughters knew their mother had a gun and planned to assault Mr. Loher. The two parents were battling over child support payments, according to court records from Knox County, where Ms. Loher lives.

Shortly after the gunfire, the girls, ages 5 and 7, were seen wandering the parking lot outside the clinic. Prudential employees said they took the girls inside their office, got them lunch and played video games with them. The girls also drew pictures to take to their dad in the hospital.

About 1:30 p.m., Department of Children's Services employees picked up the girls, who were wearing brightly colored masks and holding balloons.

Mr. and Ms. Loher were scheduled to meet in court on Wednesday in regards to a petition for modification of child support, according to records at the Knox County Clerk Office.

Mr. Loher filed the petition, which states that he had been denied co-parenting rights for at least a month. In the petition, he accused his ex-wife of contempt of court and asked the court to ensure that he receive the allotted time with his children as well as additional time to restore what he missed.

Efforts to reach Ms. Loher's attorney on Friday were unsuccessful.

Growing domestic unrest

Mr. Loher and his then-wife were living in Illinois when she requested an emergency order of protection against him on Oct. 7, 2002, court records show. In her statement, she claimed that Mr. Loher verbally and physically threatened her, failed to take medication for an anxiety disorder and avoided responsibility for their then-8-month-old child.

According to her petition, her husband would disappear for days at a time. She said her husband was unstable, "full of anger," and that she was unsure what he might do.

The order was dismissed two weeks later, however, when Ms. Loher didn't show up for court, records show.

Mr. Loher filed for divorce on Oct. 24, 2002, but the couple dismissed the divorce petition in 2003.

After their second daughter was born, the couple filed for divorce again in November 2004, and it was granted in February 2005.

It's unclear when Mr. Loher moved to Tennessee, but in September 2005, she sought an order of protection against Mr. Loher's mother in Knox County. She alleged that her former mother-in-law, Janice Loher-Hilton, had physically assaulted her in June 2005 while defending her son's actions.

Ms. Loher wrote that she was upset because her ex-husband had committed adultery. She claimed in the petition that he used her to get him through school and then divorced her six months before graduation. She also accused her ex-husband of moving the child support case to Tennessee so he would be required to pay less child support, the petition states.

In her petition, she asked that the mother-in-law not be allowed to come to her house because it was "difficult/stressful for me mentally to have any kind of control with Jan."

On the scene

In April, Mr. Loher filed the petition for modification of child support and received a hearing date.

But according to a statement from the Hamilton County sheriff's office, Ms. Loher showed up at the chiropractic office with a weapon Friday morning. She struggled with her ex-husband and Mr. Loher was shot in the leg, the sheriff's statement.

Mr. Loher was taken by medical helicopter to Erlanger, said Signal Mountain police Capt. Gregg Hall.

Ms. Loher also was treated and released from Erlanger before being taken to the sheriff's office.

Knox County Criminal Court officials said Ms. Loher does not have a criminal record there.

Signal Mountain police and sheriff's office officials remained at Ashley Plaza for most of Friday. A silver Ford Escape bearing a Hawkins County, Tenn., license plate was towed away for further investigation. Officials said they also recovered a gun.

Employees at the Signal Mountain Athletic Club, located across the parking lot from the chiropractic office in Ashley Plaza, said the club's general manager called 911 after hearing people screaming that someone had been shot.

"We tried to keep everyone out of the parking lot," athletic trainer Shannon Wyke said.

About 20 to 30 people were in the club at the time of the shooting, he added.

Shannon's brother, trainer David Wyke, who also is Mr. Loher's client, said he watched the doctor wave his hand as he was being transported to the LifeForce helicopter, as if to say he was OK.

"His personality is good; he's just a really good guy," David Wyke said.

Mr. Loher, originally from Bloomingdale, Mich., opened the chiropractic clinic last summer with his then-fiancee and now-wife Gladys Pineda-Loher. He had spent the two previous years practicing in Knoxville, Tenn.

Mr. Loher told the Times Free Press in August that he and his new wife chose to live and work on Signal Mountain because it seemed safe.

Staff writer Monica Mercer contributed to this story.