Florida woman accused of killing ill husband released from jail

Ellen Gilland is accused of fatally shooting her terminally-ill husband. Photo / AP

A 76-year-old woman accused of fatally shooting her terminally-ill husband in a Florida hospital was released on US$150,000 bond Friday night.

Ellen Gilland 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 Jan. 21 incident.

Instead, Gilland engaged in a four-hour standoff with police officers. They eventually used a nonlethal 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 Friday night.

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 they saw Ellen Gilland sitting beside the bed with her husband unresponsive in a pool of blood, a police report said. She pointed the weapon at the pair and told them to leave the room. Another staffer also entered and was told to leave.

Patients were evacuated from nearby rooms, and officers lined up in the hallway with guns drawn toward the open door of Gilland’s room. They repeatedly yelled, “Drop the gun!” according to video from an officer’s body camera recorded about 10 minutes after the shooting.

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.