A man has shot dead four people in a small town in northern Switzerland before turning the gun on himself, in what was believed to be a family dispute.

Police in Aargau canton say residents heard shots in Würenlingen, a town of about 4,500 people north-west of Zurich, late on Saturday night.

They alerted police, who found five bodies lying outside a house in a residential area. All the victims were adults, and a couple and their son are believed to be among those who were killed.

The Aargau police chief, Michael Leupold, told a press conference on Sunday afternoon that the shooter was related to at least some of the dead and killed himself after the shooting.

A police spokesman, Bernard Graser, later told the BBC that police suspected the motive to be a family dispute, and there were no grounds to suspect terrorism.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, told the Swiss newspaper Blick she heard four shots in succession fired very quickly, then two further shots after a pause. She had heard no screams, the newspaper reported.

The local prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.

Würenlingen was also the site of a multiple shooting in 1985 when Alfredo Lardelli, an entrepreneur, shot the husband of his former lover and two prostitutes, 100 metres from Sunday’s crime scene.

Lardelli was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and adopted a new identity in prison after marrying a Brazilian woman. After his release, he became a Swiss media personality.