AKRON, Ohio — A man accused in the fatal shooting of his wife of 45 years in a hospital intensive care unit once told his longtime co-worker that the couple had agreed they never wanted to become disabled in a nursing home.

Authorities on Wednesday charged John Wise, 66, with aggravated murder in his wife's death as police continued to investigate whether it was a mercy killing.

Terry Henderson, who worked at a northeast Ohio steel plant with Wise for three decades, said he believes his friend did not want his wife, Barbara Wise, to suffer after having three aneurysms.