Authorities have revealed that the fatal shooting of a critically ill man in Florida was part of a failed murder-suicide pact with his wife.
Ellen Gilland, 76, is accused of shooting and killing husband Jerry Gilland as he lay in his bed at AdventHealth Hospital in Daytona Beach around 11:30 a.m. Saturday — before she was arrested.
According to investigators, the Gilllands had made a pact to commit a murder-suicide if Jerry’s health continued to deteriorate.
“He aimed to do it, but he didn’t have the strength, so he had to do it for her,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Zachary Young said Sunday. Reported by Click Orlando.
Ellen reportedly told authorities that her husband, 77, had been ill for some time, and that the two of them had planned the murder-suicide three weeks earlier, reports Station WESH.
Authorities said that after allegedly shooting and killing her ailing husband, Ellen locked herself in her room, refusing to come out until 3:30 p.m. He was taken into custody after SWAT officers used a flash bang device to distract him and shot him with beanbags.
Jerry Gilland was alone in his hospital room at the time of the shooting and no one else was harmed.
During the hours-long standoff, a part of the hospital was evacuated and some doctors, nurses and others took shelter in locked cupboards and rooms.
Chief Young said that although Allen never threatened to shoot any responding police officers, he also never fired a gun. Fearing a possible shootout, the SWAT team, which was called to the scene, deployed a device, commonly known as a flash bang, to distract the woman.
A 76-year-old woman was also hit by a non-lethal projectile, after which she was arrested, ending a four-hour standoff.
Allen made his initial court appearance Sunday to face a charge of first-degree premeditated murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Volusia County Judge Mary Jolley ordered the woman held in jail without bail.
