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Police have launched a manhunt after a shooter killed two people and injured a third after opening fire in a city in Switzerland.
The gunman fired shots at several people in two locations in Sion, in Switzerland’s southwestern canton of Valais, close to the borders with France and Italy, before 8am on Monday.
Officers said they were still working to establish a motive for the shootings but that the suspect appears to have known his victims.
Police said they had deployed officers to find the shooter, and later issued an appeal for people to come forward with any information on a 36-year-old believed to be the gunman.
They warned people that “this person is dangerous” and they shouldn’t approach him.
Regional newspaper Le Nouvelliste, which didn’t name sources, reported that shots were fired at a paint company’s premises and at another location.
Local prosecutors opened a murder investigation.
Switzerland, a country of around 9 million, has a high rate of gun ownership, although mass shootings are rare, unlike in the US, where firearm ownership is also high.
The central European country last had a mass shooting in 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug and opened fire, killing 14 people before turning the gun on himself.
Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based organisation that monitors global trends in armed violence, estimates the number of firearms in civilian possession at 2.3 million.