Staff at the Mhala police station at Bushbuckridge where two senior police chiefs died on Tuesday is being treated for trauma, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Abie Khoabane said Mhala police station commander Freddie Baloyi and his branch commander Alfred Dlamini's colleagues were not coping after their sudden deaths.

"They are going through counselling as they have been traumatised by the incident.

They are still in shock," he said. The last group will be counselled on Thursday.

Baloyi and Dlamini were alone in a colleague's office when two gunshots were heard.

A colleague who rushed to find out what had happened found both men gunned down in a pool of blood with bullet wounds to their heads.

Baloyi died at the scene while Dlamini died on arrival in hospital.

An inquest into murder and suicide has since been opened.

Sapa