Two policemen were shot dead during a roadside check in Germany

Thomas Frey/DPA, Profimedia.cz

Two police officers were shot dead in Rhineland-Westphalia early Monday morning while checking a car. The perpetrators escaped, the Focus weekly reported, and a massive search has been launched in the country. Police have urged drivers not to hitchhike.

Two traffic policemen were checking a car in the Kusel district when fired upon by the vehicle. They radioed to their colleagues, “They’re shooting at us.”

When reinforcements from Kaiserslautern arrived on the scene, the 24-year-old policewoman, who was still studying at the police university, and her 29-year-old colleague were already dead, and the perpetrators had fled.

Clues were seized at the scene, but the identity of the perpetrators is unknown, as is information about their car. Police are conducting an extensive search involving police units from neighboring Saarland. The road near Ulmet was closed for the murder.