A woman allegedly shot and killed her terminally ill husband in his Florida hospital room on Saturday in what police said was a "tragic and unfortunate circumstance" that the couple planned together.
Officers from the Daytona Beach Police Department responded around 11:35 a.m. local time to a shooting at AdventHealth Daytona Beach, Chief Jakari Young said.
The 77-year-old patient, identified by police as Jerry Gilland, was believed to have been shot in the head, Young said. Police negotiated with his 76-year-old wife, who had confined herself in the hospital room, for several hours before she surrendered shortly after 3 p.m. local time, police said.
The couple allegedly planned the shooting about three weeks ago, should the husband take a "turn for the worse," Young said.
"It's a tragic and unfortunate incident," Young said. "It just shows that none of us are immune from the trials and tribulations of life."
The initial plan may have been a murder-suicide, but the wife, identified by police as Ellen Gilland, "decided she couldn't go through with it," Young said.
"Apparently the goal was for him to do it, but he did not have the strength so she had to carry it out for him," he said.
Staff and other patients in the long-term acute care facility were removed from the area following the shooting, police said. No one else was injured and the woman was "not seen as a threat to staff or patients," police said amid negotiations. The man was the only patient in the room, Young said.
FOX 35 News' Matt Trezza attended the court appearance, where no family or friends showed up on her behalf.
Gilland did not say much during the appearance, only spoke a couple of words when answering the judge's questions as she was read her charges, and then she was escorted out of the courtroom.
Officers of the Daytona Beach Police Department said they were called to the hospital located at 301 Medical Memorial Parkway on Saturday around 11:35 a.m. and found the 76-year-old had fired a single shot, killing her 77-year-old husband, Jerry Gilland, and confined herself to his room on the eleventh floor.
The shooting led to a lockdown at the hospital as hostage negotiators tried to get the woman to come out.
After nearly four hours of negotiating, police used a flash bang and a taser to get Gilland to drop the gun. They say she was never a threat to anyone else and no staff or patients were injured.
"They had a conversation about it, and they actually planned this approximately three weeks ago that if he continued to take a turn for the worst, that he wanted her to end this," Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said during a news conference. Police believe the initial plan was a murder-suicide.
Investigators are working to learn how she was able to bring a gun into the hospital.
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