Two people – a man and a woman – have been killed in a shooting spree in the centre of the north-western German town of Espelkamp, the newspaper Bild reports, citing police.

The newspaper quoted police as saying the situation appeared to be a case of someone “running amok”, with the shooter still on the loose.

But DW reports that police no longer believe the shootings are part of a larger killing spree.

Espelkamp, a town of some 20,000 people, is in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, about 370 kilometres west of the capital Berlin.

Police said one of the two had been killed inside a house and the other just outside it, adding that an initial investigation did not point to a terrorist attack.

“As things stand it looks like it was a crime rather than terrorism,” a police official said.

The killer remains at large.

It is unclear what relationship if any the victims had to the shooter.

Local broadcaster Radio Westfalica said police reported there were two separate crime scenes.

Police in the town say the perpetrator is on the run.

-with agencies