Wife, husband planned fatal shooting in hospital for weeks

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Police say Ellen and Jerry Gilland had a murder-suicide plan for weeks: If his unnamed illness worsened, the 76-year-old woman would fatally shoot her terminally ill, 77-year-old husband. Then she would take her own life. But after shooting him in a Daytona Beach hospital Saturday, police say she couldn’t go through with the rest of the plan. Instead, she was in a four-hour standoff with officers. Police used a nonlethal explosive to take her into custody. Jerry Gilland died. Ellen Gilland has been charged with premeditated first-degree murder. Her court-appointed lawyer didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.