The police were alerted to a violent crime on Monday morning, whereupon two dead bodies were found at different locations. According to information provided to the newspaper Kronen Zeitung, the police have found three fatalities.
A large-scale police hunt for the shooter is underway in the area around the town of Kirchberg ob der Donau, located in the Rohrbach district, not far from the German border. The suspect is described by the police as a hunter and as "very dangerous".
We unfortunately assume that the perpetrator is armed, says police spokesperson Ulrike Handlbauer to Oberösterreichische Nachrichten.
Large areas have been cordoned off and helicopters are participating in the police search effort.
The circumstances surrounding the shootings are otherwise unclear. According to information provided to Kronen Zeitung, a long-standing conflict between hunters in the area may be behind it.
The mayor, who is reported to have been shot dead, Franz Hofer, represented the conservative and governing Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). It is not clear at this stage whether the shooting may have had a political motive. Hofer and the other confirmed fatality were active hunters.
Kirchberg ob der Donau has around 1,000 inhabitants.
