A weekend welfare check at an Etowah County home has turned into a double homicide investigation.

Authorities on Monday identified the victims as James Timothy Thornton, 71, and Kelley Davis Thornton, 57.

Etowah County sheriff’s deputies responded midday Sunday to the home in the 6000 block of Old Highway 411 in the Coats Bend/Turkey Town community.

Sheriff Jonathan Horton said the sheriff’s office had received a request for a welfare check at the residence.

Both victims were pronounced dead on the scene from gunshot wounds.

The scene was secured, and investigators with the sheriff’s ffice, the Jacksonville State University Center for Applied Forensics, and the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office also responded to assist in the investigation.

Horton said there is no immediate th

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