ALLENTOWN -- There has been a shooting at a Lehigh Valley Hospital campus in Allentown, according to the Lehigh County district attorney.
It happened around 1 p.m. on the fourth floor of the hospital at 17th and Chew Streets in a hospice unit, where terminally ill patients get care.
The D. A. said that staff members heard gunshots and found Mildred Osman, 83, dead in her bed. Her husband Elwood Osman was also found dead in the room.
"I believe staff had heard a first gunshot and then as they were heading towards the room, then a second gunshot. So there was no one else in the room at the time," said Jim Geiger of Lehigh Valley Health Network.
The D.A. said he believes this was a murder-suicide.
Hospital officials are calling the murder suicide more of "a love story" between a husband and his suffering wife.
The hospital spokesperson says he spoke to family members who say the man loved his wife.
"It's a love story. The elderly gentleman did not bear to see his wife suffer and the family, I believe, observed that he just could not envision life without her," said Jim Geiger of Lehigh Valley Health Network.
The Lehigh Valley Health Network released the following statement:
"We wish to confirm today at approximately 1 p.m. a hospice patient was shot and killed by her elderly husband on the hospice inpatient unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital, 17 Street in Allentown. The gentleman died from a self-inflected gunshot wound. According to police, the situation appears to be a discrete incident that was a murder-suicide. No other patients or staff were harmed or threatened. This is a very tragic event and our hearts go out to the family of the deceased and our Lehigh Valley Health Network colleagues who were involved."
Chuck Lewis, senior vice president, external affairs.
The man walked in the hospital with a gun which was never detected because there are no metal detectors.That has changed as hospital security and Allentown police are beefing up security. The hospital is also looking into upgrading its security.
The hospital spokesperson said no one else was in danger.