Associated Press

JACKSON — A man brought a handgun into a nursing home in southern Ohio, shot his wife in her room and then shot himself, authorities said.

Shirley Ross, 72, was on the floor when deputies arrived Wednesday night and was pronounced dead at the Four Winds nursing home, Jackson County Sheriff John Shasteen said Thursday.

Clarance Ross, 75, was alive, slumped in a chair, but was dead on arrival at a Jackson hospital, the sheriff said.

Both had gunshot wounds to the head, but autopsies were ordered, the sheriff said. A .38-caliber Colt revolver was recovered at the scene.

No motive for the shootings was immediately determined. Chief Deputy Jim Ephlin said the couple had been married about 50 years, and that Shirley Ross had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The facility offers hospice care, post-surgery care and physical rehabilitation services, according to its Web site.

Jackson is about 70 miles southeast of Columbus.