A man and a woman have been killed in a shooting in the centre of the western German town of Espelkamp and their killer remains at large, police said.
An initial investigation of the attack on Thursday did not point to terrorism, officers added.
Police said one of the two had been killed inside a house and the other just outside it.
"As things stand it looks like it was a crime rather than terrorism," a police spokesperson said.
Bild newspaper had earlier quoted police as saying that the situation appeared to be a case of someone "running amok" and said special police commandos were attending the scene.
Espelkamp is a town of some 20,000 people and located in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
