Westchester Medical Center murder-suicide: Man wanted to end ill wife's suffering

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Two dead in murder-suicide at Westchester Medical Center A timeline of the murder-suicide at the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla Aug. 8, 2018.

MOUNT PLEASANT – The deadly gunfire that shocked Westchester Medical Center on Wednesday was explained in a note about 20 miles away from the Valhalla hospital.

Richard DeLucia, 71, was distraught over the medical issues burdening his 70-year-old wife, Ann DeLucia, and he wanted to end her suffering, according to a note found at the couple's Yorktown home. He did that by shooting his wife in her hospital bed before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The DeLucias died at the hospital later that morning, both from single gunshot wounds, police said.

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The murder-suicide sent staff and patients scrambling out of the hospital at 100 Woods Road on Wednesday morning and left people asking why, and how, such violence took place.

Westchester County police said gunfire was heard on the hospital's fourth floor at 9:39 a.m.

A uniformed county officer and two plainclothes officers rushed to the scene within two minutes and, with hospital security, found Ann DeLucia shot in bed in her room. Her husband and the gun he used, a .38-caliber revolver that was registered to him, were on the floor, police said.

The explanation for the shooting was revealed in a note found on Wednesday afternoon as detectives searched the DeLucias' home. It was unclear what Ann DeLucia was suffering from or what condition she was in.

The couple owned a home in Jefferson Village, a senior community in Yorktown, according to town records.

Richard DeLucia had once owned a well-known Westchester catering hall, the Westchester Manor in Hastings-on-Hudson, called the Manor House during his time, current co-owner Enrico Mareschi said. Although DeLucia sold the venue to another owner roughly 15 years ago, he still came by occasionally until two to three years ago, Mareschi said.

“He was a nice guy,” Mareschi said. “He really was a good person.”

At the couple’s condo building in Yorktown Heights, neighbors absorbed the news with dismay.

“Everybody’s just shocked,” resident Valeria Tassone said, adding that she had no insight into what was going on in the couple’s life.

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At a late-morning press briefing, Westchester County Police Commissioner Thomas Gleason said no one else besides the DeLucias was in the room when the shooting occurred.

“It should be stressed that this is an isolated incident. There is no threat to hospital staff or other patients,” Gleason said.

Patients and staff expressed fear and shock over the situation.

Jatziri Escobar, a patient who arrived at the hospital shortly after 9 a.m., said a police officer described the shooting on the fourth floor. Escobar was in a room on the first floor when staff ran through the building alerting patients about the active shooting.

"I was kinda scared, but one of the officers told me to relax and all would be OK," said Escobar, a 22-year-old Elmsford resident.

Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Kara Bennorth said “safety and security is paramount” at Westchester Medical Center and said a silver alert – meaning an active shooter – went out over the hospital's public address system and via text message to alert them to the situation. Mandatory monthly and yearly active shooter training sessions are also held.

She would not elaborate on security protocols at the 383-bed hospital off the Sprain Brook Parkway.

In the hours after the shooting, Westchester and state police were outside the hospital, blocking the driveway, while workers were seen milling about outside.

"Sometimes family members get a little outraged," Clarence McMillan, who works at Westchester Medical Center, said outside the hospital as police responded. "They don't understand the care and stuff we have to go through to help their loved ones survive. Maybe this is one of those situations."

The incident comes 13 months after another shooting at a hospital in the region.

On June 30, 2017, a former staff doctor, Henry Bello, entered Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center with a large box concealing an AR-15 assault rifle, made his way to the 16th floor and began firing.

On the 16th and 17th floors, Bello shot seven people, one fatally, before killing himself. He had been forced to resign from the hospital two years earlier.

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Staff writer Jonathan Bandler and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Twitter: @MattSpillane, @coynereports