A man and a woman were killed on Thursday in a shooting in the center of Espelkamp, in western Germany – and their killer remains at large, police said, adding that an initial investigation did not indicate any terrorism motive.

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.

The German newspaper Bild 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.