A man killed his wife and daughter, and injured another in Johannesburg, before fleeing to Limpopo Province, and then turned the gun on himself, police said on Saturday.

Police spokesperson Inspector Lorraine van Emmerik said the man, believed to be in his mid-40s, shot his 40-year old wife and a 22-year-old daughter dead in the City Deep hostel in Johannesburg's Booysens area in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A fellow resident heard the shots and alerted a supervisor, who in turn alerted the police.

When the police arrived at the scene they also found the man's one-year-old daughter critically injured. She was rushed to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg (formerly Johannesburg General).

She said that police were alerted yesterday that the man had returned to his traditional home and had shot himself in the early hours of Friday morning.

The names of the deceased have not been released.

Sapa