Three people were killed in a series of shootings on Sunday in the small Belgian town of Bilzen, just over the border from the southern Dutch city of Maastricht.

In the first incident, early in the morning, a man killed his 15-year-old son in the village of Vlijtingen. He then went to Bilzen where he tried to kill his ex-girlfriend at her home. She managed to escape and warn the police.

An exchange of gunfire followed inside the house after the police arrived, leaving the gunman and one police officer so badly injured that they both died soon afterwards.