On the evening of December 30, 2022, a sense of normalcy was shattered in the employee parking lot of Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. Vikki Wetzel, a 49-year-old female who had dedicated over two decades of her life as an employee of the hospital, was leaving after her shift in the lab medicine department. As she walked to her car, the winter air was pierced by the sound of multiple gunshots. Wetzel was fatally wounded in the attack, which occurred around 5:00 PM.
The hospital was immediately placed on lockdown as law enforcement descended on the scene. Investigators quickly identified a person of interest in the shooting. Video surveillance from the parking lot captured a dark-colored SUV, believed to be a Ford Edge, fleeing the area after the incident. The investigation into the tragic shooting soon became intertwined with another incident that had occurred just an hour later in neighboring Columbia County.
Authorities were called to the scene of a fiery single-vehicle crash. The driver, 48-year-old David Morgan of Mount Carmel, was found deceased. Further investigation revealed that Morgan was the ex-boyfriend of Vikki Wetzel. The vehicle he was driving matched the description of the SUV seen leaving the hospital parking lot. An autopsy later revealed that Morgan had also sustained an apparent gunshot wound prior to the crash.
The events of that evening pointed to a tragic murder-suicide, with law enforcement officials confirming the connection between the two scenes. They assured the public that there was no ongoing danger, suggesting that the person responsible for Vikki Wetzel's death had also perished. The investigation concluded that Wetzel's death was a homicide and Morgan's was a suicide.
