A Perdido couple is dead and their home destroyed after what authorities said appeared to be a murder, suicide at a Bay Minette gas station Sunday.

In a release, officials with the Bay Minette Police Department said officers responded to panic alarm at Driftwood Convenience Store, located at 47940 Higway 59, where they found two persons, one male and one female, they believed to be dead from gunshot wounds lying on the ground behind the counter inside the store.

While calling for backup and medical assistance, officers said the man, later identified as Mark Anthony Milstid, 41, got up and “staggered out of the store and into the parking lot where he collapsed.”

Authorities say their investigation revealed Milstid went to the store to confront his wife, 41-year-old Linda Diane Milstid, who was on duty as a clerk at the time. Milstid, armed with a shotgun, shot his wife twice, killing her instantly. He then turned the gun on himself and fired one round into his chest.

Authorities learned that, just prior to driving to the store, Milstid apparently set his home in Perdido on fire, resulting in a total loss.

Investigators have determined the couple was involved in a long-standing domestic dispute. Mark Milstid was transported to North Baldwin Infirmary where he later died.