Moorpark Couple Die in an Apparent Murder-Suicide : Violence: Police say Patrick Dino D’Attile shot his wife and then himself after an argument about his drinking problem.

The lives of a Moorpark couple ended violently after Patrick Dino D’Attile allegedly shot his wife and then put the gun to his own head following an argument over what police said was D’Attile’s drinking problem, officials said Sunday.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies found D’Attile, 33, dead at the couple’s apartment and his wife, Mary E. D’Attile, 30, critically injured shortly after D’Attile told emergency operators that his wife was bleeding to death, officials said Sunday.

Investigators arrived at the bottom-floor apartment in the 100 block of Majestic Court minutes after the 10:15 p.m. call Saturday.

The caller left the phone off the hook after telling operators, “She’s bleeding to death,” police said. The dispatch operator then heard what sounded like a single gunshot, according to investigators.

Mary E. D’Attile died about an hour later at Los Robles Regional Medical Center from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

A semiautomatic handgun was found near D’Attile, who died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Neighbors told police that the couple had been arguing earlier in the evening about D’Attile’s “drinking problem.” Friends of Mary D’Attile said Sunday that she often talked about her husband’s alcohol abuse.

“I knew she was having problems with him before,” said Eric Bowman, an assistant manager at the K mart store in Moorpark, where she had worked since May. “It was always domestic. She’d come in (to work) crying.”

County Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens said D’Attile was a commercial welder, but could not say Sunday whether he was currently employed. He said the couple had no children and are survived by their parents.

Neighbors said D’Attile had recently been passed over for a promotion, and that his wife worked at home as a hairdresser in addition to her part-time job as a retail supervisor at K mart.

Norma Kouns, who lives next door to the D’Attiles, said she heard little the night of the shootings.

“They were really a nice couple,” Kouns said. “This whole thing just shocks me.”

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said the couple argued regularly, including a dispute earlier Saturday evening. The woman said Mary D’Attile had sought help from another neighbor minutes before the shooting.

“They’d been having some problems,” the mother of two small children said Sunday. “She’d tried to get some help from the neighbors. But when she came back, he was ready (with the gun).”

Workers at K mart on Sunday were shocked and saddened by the deaths.

“They were just in here a month ago,” clerk Danny Melchiorre said. “She trained me on the cash registers.”

Bowman said Mary D’Attile was well-liked by her co-workers.

“She was outgoing and friendly with everyone,” Bowman said. “She was always in a good mood, except for the days she was having problems with her husband.”