A man and a woman were shot dead on Thursday in the centre of the western German town of Espelkamp and their killer is on the run.
Police said one of the two was 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 spokesman said.
Bild newspaper earlier quoted police as saying that the situation appeared to be a case of someone "running amok" and that special police commandos were attending the scene.
Espelkamp, a town of about 20,000 people, is in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
