An Italian policeman on Tuesday critically injured his estranged wife, killed the couple's two daughters and took his own life.
The officer's wife was going through legal separation proceedings, and the couple's daughters were aged 14 and 8, according to RAI state television.
The killings in Cisterna di Latina, about 70 kilometers south-east of Rome, were confirmed by local Carabinieri police commander Gabriele Vitagliano, the SkyTG24 news channel reported.
Carabinieri officer Luigi Capasso was said to have surprised his wife in the garage below her flat at around 5 am (0400 GMT), leaving her battling for her life with with chest, shoulder and face injuries.
He then holed himself inside her flat with his daughters, and stayed there for several hours resisting entreaties by police negotiators to turn himself in.
"We fear for the worst given how much time has passed," Vitagliano told reporters before police decided to storm the flat after 1 pm, and found the three bodies inside.
The head of the Lazio region, which includes Cisterna di Latina, expressed his dismay on Twitter. "As a man and as a father, I am speechless before this tragedy," Nicola Zingaretti wrote.
