Two children and an old man killed in shooting incident near Rome

A gunman opened fire killing two children and a elderly man in a town near Rome on Sunday, local authorities said, in a rare shooting incident in Europe.

The attacker, a man in his 30s, was later found dead in a nearby house, having apparently killed himself as police were preparing to storm the building where he had barricaded himself in for hours. The whole area around the building had been locked down by police.

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Italian media said the old man was hit while riding his bicycle and the two children were shot while they were playing outside in the town of Ardea, south of Rome, on Sunday morning. The ages of those killed were not clear.

Politicians expressed horror. "We are deeply saddened for the death of the two children and the old man," Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi said, expressing the city's condolences to the Ardea community "in a terribile time of mourning".