DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A woman accused of fatally shooting her terminally ill husband inside a Daytona Beach hospital room is requesting bond again after a grand jury indicted her on reduced charges.
A motion was filed Wednesday to request bond for 76-year-old Ellen Gilland, who was arrested last month at AdventHealth Daytona Beach. The motion came the same day a grand jury indicted her on charges of assisting self-murder/manslaughter, instead of first-degree murder charges.
A hearing on Gilland’s bond motion could be held as early as March 2.
Gilland was initially denied bond when she faced first-degree murder charges.
“Based on the nature of the charge, Mrs. Gilland, I am going to hold you no bond on the murder charge and the remaining charges,” Judge Mary G. Jolley said during a hearing last month.
According to police, the woman’s husband, 77-year-old Jerry Gilland, was ill for some time and he and his wife planned the shooting several weeks prior. Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said the shooting was intended to be a murder-suicide.
Two hospital workers heard a gunshot from room 1106 and saw Gilland sitting beside the bed with her husband unresponsive in a pool of blood, a police report said. She pointed the weapon at the pair and told them to leave the room. Another staffer also entered and was told to leave.
Patients were evacuated from nearby rooms, which Young described as “a logistical nightmare” since most of the patients on the 11th floor were on ventilators.
Records show that officers attempted to negotiate with Gilland for about four hours.
“The goal was for him to do it, but he did not have the strength, so she had to carry it out for him,” Young said. “We were able to establish a dialogue with her, we used a distractionary device to get her to put that gun down long enough for us to hit her with less lethal (force) and get her into custody.”
The surrounding area was evacuated of staff and patients as some took cover in locked closets and rooms. Gilland did not harm herself and nobody else was injured, police said, adding that the specific hospital floor being dedicated to terminally ill patients made for an additional challenge.
Gilland was also charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: