ShootDontTalk wrote:This story is not a complete first. Notice the facts:
1) This was an elderly couple and one was most likely terminally ill. Hence the hospital setting.
2) The spouse did not want to see his/her lifetime mate suffer through an agonizing and lingering death and could not bear the thought of dying alone.
3) The couple probably decided to end their lives together, rather than live on without each other's company. Some number of people give in to this temptation in the face of such circumstances.
I saw this scenario quite a few times in the years I worked with a Hospice. I also saw the frequent result of one spouse dying and the other following quickly, even though he/she was not diagnosed with a fatal disease and was seemingly in good health. They simply died of grief and loneliness. I also saw this with younger "model citizens" when I wore a badge. The situation changes the moral rationale, if not the legal definition and stigma.
In effect society calls this a murder/suicide, but in reality no charges are ever filed and no trial is ever held. In the case of the elderly terminally ill, it is simply the only rational explanation for those who survive and have never been in that situation. I highly doubt the elderly spouse who pulled the trigger, two times, was a hardened criminal bent on ignoring gun signs.
Is this what happened here? Without any additional facts, we may never know. Having seen the the horrible deaths some people endure from disease, I'm not surprised.
Not every death by a firearm can be explained by a simple reason or a headline. I knew a couple, both in their 80s, and both in failing health. The man shot his wife and then himself. People who knew the couple well believe it was by mutual consent. The main difference was that it happened in their home rather than a hospital. They didn't go past any signs or trespass in a "gun-free" zone, but the result was equally sad and tragic.