A 76-year-old woman faces first-degree murder charges after shooting her terminally ill husband in a Florida hospital.
Ellen Gilland is being held without bond for allegedly shooting her husband at AdventHealth Daytona Beach on Saturday, WESH 2 reported. Police say that Gilland shot her husband, Jerry Gilland, 77, in his hospital room.
"Apparently, because he was terminally ill, 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," said Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young, the TV station reported. "Obviously, we're unsure how she brought that gun into the hospital, but this was planned."
The original plan was for Jerry to shoot them both dead in a murder-suicide, but when Ellen arrived, he was too weak to do the shooting, so she shot him instead, WESH reported.
The shooting caused chaos on the 11th floor of the hospital. The situation devolved into a standoff, with negotiators attempting to get Ellen to surrender. Surrounding rooms, full of critically ill patients had to be evacuated. Many were on ventilators and police called it a "logistical nightmare," the station reported.
Police eventually deployed a flashbang device to stun Ellen. When it was deployed the gun went off and fired a shot into the ceiling, but police were able to disarm and arrest her, WESH reported.
At the end of the court appearance, Ellen, with the help of a walker, slowly left the courtroom, followed by her attorney.
