Police in the French Alps are investigating an apparent murder scene in which four adults were found shot to death and two young girls survived, one of them beneath the bodies of two of the victims.
French President Francois Hollande, who is in London, has condemned the shootings and vowed that "everything will be done" to find those responsible.
French prosecutor Eric Maillaud told reporters Thursday that a cyclist happened across the scene of a multiple shooting at a parking lot in a resort area near Lake Annecy late afternoon local time Wednesday.
He said authorities summoned to the scene found a car containing the bodies of three adults, two shot in the head, and a cyclist nearby who was also shot in the head. A young girl thought to be about eight years old was found near the car with a bullet wound to the shoulder and serious head wounds.
Eight hours later, authorities found a second girl, about four years old, hiding in the car beneath the bodies. She was uninjured. The girls are hospitalized and under police guard.
The prosecutor says the three victims in the car are believed to be a British family who had been vacationing in the area, while the dead cyclist was a local man thought to have been passing by when the incident took place.
Some 60 police, both British and French, are investigating the area.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.