An elderly couple soon to be separated by a hospital transfer were shot to death on Tuesday in a murder-suicide at Penticton Regional Hospital in the B.C. Interior.

A 77-year-old man walked into the hospital and shot his 80-year-old wife with a handgun before turning the weapon on himself. 

Penticton, B.C.

Interior Health Authority CEO Murray Ramsden said the man had visited his wife daily since she was admitted several weeks ago and was well known to hospital staff.

He described the man and his wife as a "very kind, gentle older couple that appeared to be very close," and said they were holding hands just moments before the shootings.

Ramsden said a nurse had just left them in her room and was in the hallway when two gunshots were heard.

Health officials confirm the elderly woman learned a week ago that she was too sick to go home. She was in the transition unit of the hospital, waiting for a bed in a long-term care home, Ramsden added.

They have been identified as John and Lorna McCadden.

RCMP Cpl. Rick Dellebuur said the incident took place shortly after 1 p.m. PT.

It is the third instance of violent death at a B.C. hospital in less than four years.

A B.C. coroner's inquest was held after three killings at Mission Memorial Hospital in 2003.

Forty-one-year-old Sherry Heron and her 68-year-old mother, Anna Adams, were killed by Heron's estranged husband, who later committed suicide.

The inquest ultimately dealt more with issues surrounding police handling of domestic violence cases than with hospital security.

In April, a 78-year-old hospital volunteer was beaten to death at the Campbell River Hospital.

Police said that Phyllis Hards, who had volunteered at the hospital for 20 years, was kicked in the head.

Dale Olvai Huttunen, 26, was charged with second-degree murder in connection with her death.