The authorities released a report announcing that a man shot and killed his wife inside a hospital, in her bed. The 88-year-old man then shot himself.  Michael Mastronardy, police chief, stated that the man was in a critical condition and immediately after he had shot his 87-year-old wife he was taken to the trauma center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. After he had killed his wife, he shot himself in his head.

Because of the couple’s relatives, Mastronardy couldn’t release the names of the two old persons. Neither the cause for which the woman was being treated in the hospital was released immediately. She was receiving treatment at Community Medical Center in New York and the two were living in Holiday City, a retirement community in nearby Berkeley Township.

The 88-year-old man shot his wife inside her hospital room on the second floor at about 12:20. Another patient was witness at the terrible event, but he wasn’t harmed. The police questioned him on Friday afternoon. Mastronardy said that the police believed it was a mercy killing because the husband was standing by his wife’s bedside when he pulled the trigger.

"It's a situation where someone takes ill, and this is a result of that sometimes," Mastronardy added. The hospital, which is west of the Garden State Parkway in Ocean County, was closed for 10 minutes so the police could check if anybody was in danger. No other visitors or staff members were hurt and the hospital reopened shortly after the shooting.