© Olivier Maire / EPA / January 3, 2013Police officers men walk in the village of Daillon, Switzerland, where three people were shot and killed.
Three women were shot and killed and two men were wounded before police in southern Switzerland disabled the gunman by shooting him in the chest, officials said Thursday.
Police said the alleged assailant, an unemployed 33-year-old who had been treated for psychiatric problems in the past, was arrested and hospitalized after the rampage late Wednesday in the village of Daillon.
The man began firing from his apartment down toward the street and through the windows of other houses before coming outside and continuing to fire, police in the Swiss canton of Valais said in an online statement.
The three women killed, identified as 32, 54 and 79 years old, were all struck at least twice, police said.
"It's inexplicable. It's just unbelievable," local government leader Christophe Germanier told reporters after the shooting, according to a recording from World Radio Switzerland.
Prosecutor Catherine Seppey told the station the alleged gunman had previously broken Swiss drug law; Valais police identified the crime as a marijuana offense.
Officials said it was unclear how the suspect obtained the two guns used in the killings, one a 20th century military rifle historically used by Swiss militiamen. Police confiscated his weapons when he went into a psychiatric ward in 2005; records show no weapons owned by the man since, authorities said.
