Father suspected in deaths of family of 5 in Germany

A father suspected of being behind the deaths of a family of five, including himself, feared arrest and the loss of his children, prosecutors in the German state of Brandenburg said on Tuesday, reported dpa.

According to a suicide note left by the 40-year-old man, he had forged a vaccination certificate for his wife, also 40. Her employer had discovered this, and the man feared both would be arrested as a result, prosecutor Gernot Bantleon told dpa.

Investigators had found the letter in the family home in Koenigs Wusterhausen to the south-east of Berlin after the discovery of the bodies on Saturday.

The victims, the man, his wife and their three children - aged 4, 8 and 10 - all had gunshot wounds. A firearm was found in the house.

Investigators have yet to establish whether the firearm was used in the killings. Autopsies are expected to take a number of days. On Monday, it was reported that neither parent had a firearms licence.