Man fatally shoots self in hospital elevator

Published 11:15 am Monday, September 10, 2018

MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say an elderly man walked into an Alabama hospital and shot himself to death without saying a word to anyone.

Muscle Shoals Police Chief Clint Reck tells media outlets the incident occurred about 6:45 a.m. Sunday at Shoals Hospital.

Reck says surveillance video shows that a man walked in the front door of the hospital without speaking to anyone and entered an elevator. He says nurses then heard a gunshot.

Police identify the dead man as 79-year-old William Edgar Nichols, who lived near Leighton.

Reck says no one else was injured, and investigators aren’t aware of any link between Nichols and the hospital.