Five people, including an American, were killed in what investigators believe to be a robbery-driven massacre in Angeles City, Pampanga, a local police official said on Thursday.

Superintendent Danilo Bautista, chief of the Angeles City Police, said the bodies of the five victims — three women and two men — were discovered by a security guard who suspected that something wrong happened inside one of the units of Hensonville Court Subdivision in Barangay Malabanias when he spotted a suspicious-looking man casually walking away from the house at around 1 p.m. on Thursday.

"The man was carrying a large backpack and a bag. The security guard asked the man to temporarily stay at the guard house while he was checking the house but the man already left when he returned after discovering the bodies," said Bautista in a phone interview.

Baustista said one of the victims is an American identified as Albert Mitshell.

It was learned that one of the victims is a sister of the security guard.

The five victims were shot to death using a 9mm pistol as revealed by the shells for 9mm pistols found at the crime scene.

Quoting the statement from the security guard, Bautista said the lone perpetrator arrived in the sbdivision aboard a tricycle at around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.

An hour later, the man was seen walking away from the house where the killing occured, prompting the security guard to check on the house. When he returned, the guard said the man already left aboard a tricycle.

Bautista said they immediately swooped down on the house where the tricycle dropped the suspected perpetrator but the man was no longer there. Instead, a DVD player, some personal belongings of the victims that include the wallet containing the identification card of Mitshell was found in the area.

"We raided the area based on the information provided by the tricycle driver," said Bautista, adding that one of the most likely motives of the killing was robbery.