Shooting in Room at Westchester Medical Center. Police: Murder-Suicide. No Metal Detectors, Searches at Hospital Entrance

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. From Westchester County Department of Communications August 8, 2018 UPDATED 2:10 PM UPDATED 4:30 pm edt UPDATED August 9, 12 noon edt:

The Westchester County Department of Public Safety has confirmed a shooting at Westchester Medical Center (WMC) in Valhalla. At a news conference, police said a man in his 70s, who has not yet been identified entered a fourth floor room at the Center with a handgun and shot and killed a woman, described as “family member” in that room, then killed himself.

The Westchester Rockland Journal News reported Thursday morning the hospital does not search visitors to the hospital and does not have metal detectors, according to Kara Bennorth, the hospital’s chief administrative officer.

The two people who died in a murder-suicide incident at Westchester Medical Center earlier today are a married couple from the Town of Yorktown.

They are Richard DeLucia, 71, and his wife, Ann DeLucia, 70, who was a patient at the hospital. Richard DeLucia shot his wife in her hospital room and then shot himself. Each died of a single gunshot wound.

County Police detectives found a note early this afternoon at the DeLucia residence. In that note, Peter DeLucia indicated that he was distraught over his wife’s medical issues and wanted to end her suffering.

In a press briefing earlier today, Police Commissioner Thomas Gleason said County Police were notified at 9:39 a.m. that shots had been fired on the fourth floor of the hospital. A uniformed County police officer and two plainclothes officers arrived within two minutes, and proceeded directly to scene of the gunfire along with hospital security.

They discovered that Mrs. DeLucia had been shot in bed. Her husband and the weapon he used – a licensed .38-caliber revolver — were on the floor.

Medical personnel at the hospital rendered care to both but they died of their wounds.

“I am grateful to the Medical Center staff and the officers from the Westchester County Police, Mount Pleasant Police, Greenburgh Police and New York State Police for their prompt and professional response in the first minutes of this tragic incident,” Gleason said.

It has not been explained how the murderer was able to get a handgun into the hospital without it being detected.

As of 2 PM the incident was officially over.

 

 

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