Gun: Police and fire vehicles are seen several blocks from the scene of an overnight shooting that police said left five people dead

Deaths: An ambulance near the scene. Police are unsure as to what triggered the shootings

Crime scene: The apartment complex were five people have died in a shooting. One of the men was reportedly shot by officers after he pulled a gun as they tried to help him

Too many idiots and short tempered persons own guns in America

Seattle apartment shootings leave five dead

Police have been inspecting the crime scene outside the apartment complex

Five people have been killed in shootings at an apartment complex south of the US city of Seattle, police say.

A man and a woman were found dead in separate apartments during a search of the building in Federal Way.

One man lying injured in a car park died from gunfire after producing a weapon when police approached him, though it is not clear whether he was killed by a police bullet.

Two other men were found dead in the complex grounds.

"When we arrived, there was a lot of gunfire already being fired and multiple calls, 911 calls of gunfire," Federal Way police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said.

It is not clear how the shooting incident at the complex began, but local television quotes police as saying it was a firefight between the four men who died.

"We're going to continue to go door to door in hopes that we can find some additional witnesses, and hopefully we won't be finding any more victims," Ms Schrock told AP.

Police carried out extensive searches but said they did not think there were any more gunmen at large in the district.

Federal Way is about 20 miles (32km) south of Seattle.