Husband kills wife at N.J. hospital
The woman, 87, was ill. The 88-year-old man then turned the gun on himself. He is in critical condition.
TOMS RIVER, N.J. - An 88-year-old man shot and killed his ailing wife in her hospital bed yesterday before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said the man was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. Shortly after the shooting, he was airlifted to the trauma center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.
Mastronardy would not release the names of the shooter or his wife pending notification of relatives, which he did not expect would be completed until at least today.
It was not clear what the 87-year-old woman was being treated for at Community Medical Center. Police were investigating reports that she had cancer.
Mastronardy said the couple lived in Holiday City, a retirement community in Berkeley Township.
The shooting took place inside the woman's room on the second floor about 12:20 p.m., authorities said. A patient who shared the room was unharmed and was questioned by detectives.
Mastronardy would not say whether the shootings appeared to be a mercy killing. He said the man was standing by his wife's bedside when he opened fire.
"It's a situation where someone takes ill, and this is a result of that sometimes," Mastronardy said.
Hospital staff placed the facility under lockdown until police were able to determine that no other patients, visitors or staff were in danger.
The lockdown lasted 10 minutes, officials said, at the hospital, just west of the Garden State Parkway.
"It was a very calm response," the chief said. "I don't think very many people knew anything was transpiring."
The first officers who ran into the woman's room found her dead in bed and her husband slumped on the floor next to it. The man was taken to the emergency room, where he was treated for the gunshot wound and stabilized for the helicopter ride to the trauma center about 20 miles north.
A small-caliber handgun used in the shootings was recovered.
Mastronardy said the hospital was blameless when it came to security measures.
"This could have happened anywhere, even in their home," he said.