Man fatally shoots wife, self at hospital in Westchester

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - A 71-year-old man shot his ailing wife to death in her hospital bed and then shot and killed himself Wednesday morning in Valhalla, N.Y., Westchester County police said.

Richard DeLucia walked into the room at Westchester Medical Center where his wife, Ann DeLucia, 70, was staying and shot her with a .38-caliber gun at about 9:40 a.m., police said.

Authorities placed the hospital under lockdown. Employees said some people started to run out of the building.

Police said the hospital's armed security staff responded immediately and that cops arrived within two minutes.

Authorities confirmed that the shooting was confined to one room on the fourth floor. Police found the DeLucias dead in the room and the gun on the floor.

Police detectives found a note at the couple's home in Yorktown. In the note, Richard DeLucia wrote that he was distraught over his wife's illness and wanted to end her suffering.

Video from the scene showed people in lab coats and other personnel standing outside the hospital.

Westchester Medical Center is located approximately 30 miles north of New York City. It provides medical services to New York's Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey and southwest Connecticut.

With the Associated Press