Six people have been killed and another two wounded in a shooting in Germany that appears to have resulted from a family dispute, police said.

A man called police shortly after 12.45pm (1145 GMT) and told them he had killed several people in the south-western town of Rot am See, regional police chief Reiner Moeller said.

Police kept the man on the line and, when they arrived at the scene several minutes later, arrested a 26-year-old German national as the suspect in the killings, Mr Moeller said.

Officers found the bodies of six people – three women and three men – in and behind a building where a bar is located.

The suspect’s mother and father were among the dead, the police chief said.

Another two people were hurt and one of them has life-threatening injuries, Mr Moeller said.

The suspect also threatened two children, aged 12 and 14.

He had a licence to own firearms as a shooting club member, Mr Moeller said.

Police at the scene in Rot am See (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP)

The police chief said the motive is not known but authorities are treating it as a “family drama”.

Rot am See is located about 170 kilometres (105 miles) north west of Munich.

It is a town of some 5,300 people in a rural area.