A gunman killed two people and wounded another as he launched a deadly attack at two locations in a southern Swiss tourist town, police said.
The man opened fire on several people in Sion at roughly 8am on Monday before going on the run.
The gunman fired at his victims at the Sarosa painting company in the Ronquoz area and then in the part of the town known as Potences.
A police statement said a manhunt had been launched but that a motive for the attacks was yet to be established.
It said: "Two people were killed and another was injured.
"According to initial findings, the perpetrator knew his victims."
Local prosecutors opened a murder investigation into the shooting in in the town of about 35,000 people in the southwest of Switzerland.
Police have now set up road blockades around the canton of Valais in an attempt to stop the gunman from fleeing the country, with the Italian border around 50 miles away.
Switzerland, a country of around nine million, has a high rate of gun ownership.
Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based organisation that monitors global trends in armed violence, estimates the number of firearms in civilian possession at 2.3 million
