Two people were killed by gunshots in a grocery store in Treysa in North Hesse, in the Schwalm-Eder district.

The police announced on Tuesday.

The police were on site within a few minutes with numerous forces and cordoned off the area around the market.

The background to the act of violence is currently still unclear, as a spokesman for the FAZ announced.

There is no danger to the population, it said.

As the police announced via Twitter, the incident happened shortly after 1 p.m.

"Two people were found dead in the market," officials wrote.

As the "Hessische Niedersächsische Allgemeine" (HNA) reports, citing a witness, a man is said to have initially followed a woman in an Aldi branch.

She then called out for help, but was then shot by her pursuer.

The man then turned the gun on himself, the newspaper writes.

The police did not want to confirm such reports on request.

It is currently speculation that it is a possible relationship act.

Apparently, however, the police are more likely to have a private motive and not a rampage.

There is "no danger to the population," said a spokesman.

State parliament in Wiesbaden interrupts session

As the witness described, many customers did not notice the crime at first.

It would have sounded like a glass shattered, the woman told the HNA.

Only then did they realize what had happened.

The course of events is now to be reconstructed primarily through witness statements and video recordings from the market.

The securing of evidence is expected to continue until late in the evening, maybe even into the night.

The Hessian state parliament president Astrid Wallmann (CDU) reacted to the news during a state parliament session and thanked the emergency services in Schwalmstadt.

According to information from the Hessischer Rundfunk, the state parliament interrupted its session.

Wallmann expressed heartfelt condolences to the relatives on behalf of the state parliament.

She informed the MPs between two speeches in the plenary debate that followed the government statement by Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU).

For several decades, Treysa has been the largest district of Schwalmstadt, which is about 40 minutes by car east of Marburg.

About 18,000 people live in the city.