Ohio SNF employee shot by estranged spouse

Early this morning, a man shot a female nursing home employee at the Astoria Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation facility in Canton, Ohio, in what police are calling an alleged domestic dispute.

Dragan Sukulic, 38, allegedly shot his estranged wife, Zeljka, 37, in the parking lot of the nursing home and led police on a manhunt ending in his capture some 60 miles away, according to reports by the Canton Repository.

After the shooting, the 83-bed facility initiated lockdown protocols to secure residents and staff inside. When Dragan Sukulic was apprehended by the state highway patrol, he was still in possession of a gun. At the time of the shooting, he was out on bond for a different domestic incident, police say.

“We lost someone very special today,” Michael Slyk, one of the Astoria’s owners, told the Repository. “You don’t expect to come into this in the morning, to lose a member of your team, a member of your family. It affects you very emotionally.”

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.