DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA (AP) – A 76-year-old woman accused of fatally shooting her terminally ill husband in the United States was released on USD150,000 bond yesterday.
Ellen Gilland (AP, pic below) was initially charged with first-degree murder in January after police said she shot Jerry Gilland, 77, in a suicide pact that she claimed had been in the works for weeks. However, she could not carry through with turning the gun on herself after shooting her husband in his 11th-floor AdventHealth Daytona Beach hospital room, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said at a news conference after the January 21 incident.
Instead, Gilland engaged in a four-hour standoff with police officers. They eventually used a non-lethal explosive to distract her and take her into custody, Young said. She had been held at the Volusia County Jail since her arrest. Jail records show she was released yesterday.
On Wednesday, Gilland was indicted on lesser charges of assisting self-murder/manslaughter and aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer.
Two hospital workers heard a gunshot from Room 1106, and saw Ellen Gilland sitting beside the bed with her husband unresponsive in a pool of blood, a police report said.
Patients were evacuated from nearby rooms, and officers lined up in the hallway with guns drawn toward the open door of Gilland’s room. After setting off the explosive, SWAT team members entered the room and tried to use a stun gun, but it failed to subdue Ellen Gilland.
She fired a shot into the ceiling, then dropped the weapon and was taken into custody, the police report said.
