In their investigations into the four dead in a Chemnitz apartment building, the public prosecutor's office is now concentrating on the course of the crime and the motives for what happened.
A pistol was found next to the bodies, which was most likely the murder weapon, said Chemnitz chief public prosecutor Wolfgang Klein on Thursday when asked by the dpa.
However, it is still unclear in which order the people died.
Klein did not confirm media reports that the 72-year-old man first shot his 69-year-old wife and then a younger couple, aged 32 and 34.
That must first result in the trace analysis.
It is now a matter of determining the course of action and the background to it.
Neighbors will also be asked about this.
The public prosecutor's office deliberately does not give any information about the child of the younger couple.
"The child is the main sufferer," said Klein.
The four bodies were found on Easter Monday in a house in the more rural Chemnitz district of Mittelbach.
The police had received a tip.
The four people lived together in the house.