A 76-year-old woman who shot and killed her dying husband inside a hospital in Florida has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Ellen Gilland refused to leave her husband at AdventHealth in Hospital in Daytona Beach.
According to USA Today, SWAT team members used a nonlethal explosive device to distract her before using a stun gun on her.
But when the Taser gun failed, the elderly woman fired a shot into the ceiling before dropping a .38 revolver.
After a four-hour standoff, she was taken into custody, a police report from the Daytona Beach Police Department stated.
On Monday, Gilland appeared before a judge.
In addition to the murder charge, she was also charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Gilland is now being held at the Volusia County Jail without bond.
Police said that the 76-year-old told officers that her husband Jerry Gilland, 77, had been ill for some time and they had made a pact to take their lives together.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said during a press conference on Saturday that authorities believe the couple planned the shooting three weeks before the incident.
Young also said that the dying husband wanted to fire the weapon himself but ‘did not have the strength so she had to carry it out for him.’
Police said that Gilland had also planned to take her own life but didn’t.
In a police report, an officer said witnesses saw Gilland positioning herself behind her husband’s bed while pointing the weapon at the door.
She reportedly kept the gun pointed at the door while officers were talking to her from the outside of the room.
The standoff ended almost four hours later after she dropped the gun and officers took her into custody.
In a statement to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Advent Health Daytona Beach said in a statement: “We are devastated by the tragedy that unfolded at the AdventHealth Daytona Beach campus today, and our prayers are with those impacted.
We are grateful for the Daytona Beach Police Department in helping ensure the safety of our patients, team members and visitors.”
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