Police in Cañon City were investigating the death of two people Thursday night as a murder-suicide after they say a retired police officer shot his wife, who was an emergency dispatcher, before killing himself.

Officers went to a home on the 700 block of Whipple Avenue around 11:30 p.m. when the dispatcher, who worked for the Cañon City Police Department, did not show up for her late-night shift and did not answer calls, Cañon City police said in a news release.

At the home they found the dispatcher, 49-year-old Priscilla Samento, and her husband, 56-year-old retired Cañon City police Officer Daniel Samento, dead.

Daniel Samento was a 30-year member of the department who retired in 2011, and his wife had worked as a dispatcher for 21 years.

“We are just absolutely shocked and stunned,” said Paul Schultz, chief of the department. “We are in a deep state of grief right now. “

Schultz said it appeared that Daniel Samento shot his wife in the head with a handgun while she slept before turning the gun on himself. The investigation into the deaths is ongoing, police said, but all indications point toward a murder-suicide.