Man Kills Wife, Self at LVH Hospice, DA Says

An elderly man shot and killed his wife, then himself, in a hospice room at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Allentown around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin and a hospital official said.

The man's wife was a patient at the hospice.

No other patients were harmed or threatened in the apparent murder-suicide, the hospital's senior vice president, Chuck Lewis, said in a statement.

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

Elwood Osman, 86, of 573 Cherryville Road, Cherryville, was pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m. by Deputy Coroner Paul F. Hoffman, according to a release from the Lehigh County Coroner's Office. His wife, Mildred Osman, 83, was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m. by the hospice nursing staff.

The couple's son, Thomas Osman, told The Morning Call that his parents were "a loving couple" and that his father had been distraught over his mother's illness. She recently had a stroke and suffered from spinal stenosis, he said. 

Martin and Allentown Police Chief Roger MacLean held a brief news conference about 2 p.m., confirming the apparent murder-suicide. He said three LVH employees who had gone to the wife's room after hearing the gunshots were being interviewed by police. There were no eyewitnessed to the shooting.

Martin said the hospital was not evacuated, since the shooting was confined to the room.

Autopsies will be performed.

The murder-suicide recalls other Lehigh Valley cases:

• In 2012, prominent GOP activist , in their Fogelsville home.
• In another case in 2011, a Lower Macungie man was charged in the attempted "mercy killing" of his wife.