DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A woman accused of fatally shooting her terminally ill husband Saturday at AdventHealth Daytona Beach — in what police said resulted from a murder-suicide agreement — made her first appearance in Volusia County court Sunday morning, WKMG reported.
Police on Saturday responded to AdventHealth Daytona Beach after a “female shot her terminally ill husband” and confined herself to his room, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
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Ellen Gilland, 76, now faces charges of premeditated first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, records show. Neither the state attorney nor the public defender Gilland was assigned had anything to add during her first appearance as Judge Mary G. Jolley said she had read the police report and found probable cause, granting Gilland no bond amount on any charge.
No one else was injured, according to a news release. Officers evacuated all staff and patients from around the room by 12:21 p.m., another tweet described.
Gilland surrendered to Daytona Beach police around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, having spent the better part of four hours barricaded in her husband’s room after shooting him, officials said.
According to Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young, she couldn’t go through the agreement she made three weeks prior with her husband, 77-year-old Jerry Gilland, who Ellen told police had been ill for some time.
“The goal was for him to do it, but he did not have the strength, so she had to carry it out for him,” Young said. “We were able to establish a dialogue with her, we used a distractionary device to get her to put that gun down long enough for us to hit her with less lethal (force) and get her into custody.”
The surrounding area was evacuated of staff and patients as some took cover in locked closets and rooms. Gilland did not harm herself and nobody else was injured, police said, adding that the specific hospital floor being dedicated to terminally ill patients made for an additional challenge.
The couple is from New Smyrna Beach, though it remains unclear how long the husband was a patient at AdventHealth Daytona Beach, according to police.
The hospital issued the following statement Saturday night on Facebook: “AdventHealth Daytona Beach is open for visitors and our community seeking care. We are grateful to the Daytona Beach Police Department for helping ensure the safety of our patients, team members and visitors.”