An 80-year-old man shot and killed his 76-year-old wife inside of her hospital room at about 9:15 a.m. Friday morning in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, according to the sheriff's department.
Police say after Alexander Turella killed his wife, Pamela, he turned the gun on himself.
The shooting happened inside the wife's room on the fourth floor of the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, authorities say. Shortly after the shooting, an alert went out to staff.
"I was actually shocked," said Stephanie Sullivan, who works in the building adjacent to the hospital where the incident occurred.
There was never any threat to other patients or hospital staff, the sheriff's department says. But according to Sullivan, the hospital building doesn't check bags and "there's no metal detector."
In a statement a spokesperson for Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center says "our staff is understandably shaken and saddened by the tragedy that occurred this morning."
The sheriff's department hasn't released any details about why the man shot and killed himself and his wife in the hospital room where she was a patient.
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