Cops Say 88-Year-Old Man Shot His Wife of 70 Years at CA Nursing Home

SEAL BEACH, Calif. (AP) — An 86-year-old woman was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in her bed at a Southern California nursing home Sunday, and her husband of nearly seven decades was found sitting next to her and arrested on suspicion of murder, police said.

Reports of gunshots at Country Villa Healthcare Center came at about noon, and within a few minutes officers arrived from the California Highway Patrol, Orange County Sheriff's Department and three local police departments, Seal Beach police Sgt. Steve Bowles said.

A tactical team surrounded the facility and soon entered. Inside they found Clara Laird dead of a single gunshot wound to the head, and found her husband Roy Charles Laird in a nearby chair, Bowles said. Officers recovered a .38 caliber revolver from Roy Laird.

"It was in his pocket," Bowles said, and added Laird gave no trouble to officers who arrested him.

Laird was being held at Seal Beach jail Sunday night.

The scene at the nursing home was "chaotic" on a weekend afternoon with many visitors in addition to patients and staff, Bowles said.

Bowles could offer no information on the motive or health of the couple, nor say whether any trouble had been reported between them.

"They were married for almost 70 years," he said.