A police manhunt is under way after three bodies were found in a residential building in a village in western Germany.
The suspect fled when police operatives arrived at the scene in Weitefeld, Westerwald, and is on the run, a police spokesperson told the Germany Press Agency.
According to the police, the victims were a family and included a 47-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy.
Police urged residents in the surrounding area in Germany to stay at home and warned people not to pick up hitchhikers, local media reported.
According to German publication Bild, a special task force is at the scene, and a police helicopter is employed.
Weitefeld, which has a population of approximately 2,200, has been sealed off, and vehicles coming and exiting are being inspected.
Police said the hunt will continue until the perpetrator is arrested, including into the night.
A police official told Bild that an emergency contact was received at 3:45am local time (2.45am BST).
Karl-Heinz Kessler, mayor of Weitefeld, claimed he could never “have imagined such an act” in his little community.
“You know the people here in the village,” he told Der Spiegel.
He added that the victims and the suspect were long-standing residents of the community.
