Gunman pleads guilty but mentally ill in suburban Philly hospital shootings

    A gunman has pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges he killed his caseworker and wounded his psychiatrist at a suburban Philadelphia hospital complex last July.

    The Delaware County district attorney says 50-year-old Richard Plotts, of Upper Darby, entered the pleas Tuesday to first-degree murder, attempted murder and illegally possessing a firearm.

    Plotts killed 53-year-old Theresa Hunt at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital’s Yeadon campus on July 24. He also grazed Dr. Lee Silverman in the temple and thumb before the doctor returned fire with his own gun, critically wounding Plotts to end the siege.

    Public defender Charles Williams Plotts faces life in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 25, but that the plea was in his best interest. He says Plotts never wanted to put his or the victims’ families through a trial.

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