PENTICTON, B.C. —

An 80-year-old woman killed by her husband in a murder-suicide in a Penticton hospital on Tuesday was awaiting transfer to a long-term care facility.

Interior Health Authority CEO Murray Ramsden said the 77-year-old man who shot his wife in the head had been visiting her every day since she arrived at the hospital a month ago and was well known to hospital staff. The couple also had been regular visitors to the hospital cafeteria for several years.

He described the man and his wife as a "very kind, gentle older couple that appeared to be very close."

He did not say what illness the woman was suffering from and police are still trying to determine a motive for the deaths.

The couple's names have not been released.

RCMP Cpl. Rick Dellebuur said the shooting at Penticton Regional Hospital took place shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Ramsden said the woman was in an acute-care unit at the hospital while awaiting placement in a long-term care facility in Penticton.

He said the wife was at the nursing station having lunch when her husband arrived for a visit.

"The nurse greeted him, then turned, started walking down the hall and the shots were fired," he said.

He said there were just two shots. Both man and wife died.

Ramsden said counselling has been offered to hospital staff as well as to families of other residents on the unit which functions as a transition area for patients moving to long-term care.

"The wife was originally admitted in early August as an acute-care patient," Ramsden said. "Approximately a week ago, she was classified as requiring long-term care."

She would have been placed in a long-term care facility in Penticton, he said.

Hospital security in British Columbia became the focus of a coroner's inquest after an man fatally shot his estranged wife and her mother at Mission Memorial Hospital in 2003.

Bryan Heron shot his wife, Sherry, and her mother, Anna, at the hospital the same day he was served with a restraining order.

Then-health minister Colin Hansen said the government must do everything it could to ensure such a tragedy would never be repeated.

Hansen said security was already good at hospitals, but added more would be done to strengthen safety. He had said his department was looking at hospital security even before a coroner's jury examined the Mission case and called for better security where restraining orders are involved.

Ramsden said security at the Penticton hospital is on duty from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.. He doubts it would have prevented Tuesday's incident given how well known the couple was to hospital staff.

"This is an isolated incident," he said. "I don't think it could have been predicted and security would not have been a factor in this case.

"He was a frequent visitor and very supportive of his wife."