2013-03-19

An elderly couple is dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a Lehigh Valley hospice.

Elwood Osman shot his 83-year-old wife Mildred and then himself inside the Hospice Center of the Lehigh Valley Hospital's 17th Street Campus in Allentown, Pa. around 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.

Martin says three hospital staff went to the Osman's inpatient room on the facility's fourth floor located at 17th and Chew Streets after hearing gunshots. Once inside, staffers found the Mildred dead in her bed and Elwood dead elsewhere in the room.

Martin described the shooting as a "discrete incident."

"This is a very tragic event and our hearts go out to the family of the deceased and our Lehigh Valley Health Network colleagues who were involved," Lehigh Valley Health Network senior vice president Chuck Lewis said in a statement.

Lewis says no other patients or staff were threatened or hurt.

Martin says officials are investigating the shooting as a murder-suicide. The Lehigh County Corner's Office is expected to conduct autopsies on the couple.

Photo Credit: AP

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