Neighbours were stunned to wake up to news of the Gudja double murder, struggling to reconcile the image of the family they knew with the events that unfolded.

Victim Angele Bonnici.

Marija Lourdes Bonnici and her daughter Angele Bonnici had last been seen at their home in Għaxaq on Tuesday and been reported to the police as missing on Wednesday.

Read: Mother and daughter found shot and partially buried in Gudja

Police found the bodies of the two women in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The son, who is in his late 30s and who worked at a fuel station nearby is believed to be in police custody.

You would never imagine something like this here at all, let alone it happening again

The Bonnicis' home, watched over by police on Saturday morning, is at the end of a sleepy street leading to the Għaxaq village square, with members of their extended family living door by door.

In the only bar along the road, residents recalled the family in very positive terms as friendly and outgoing, including the son, now the prime suspect.

"We are all stunned. I can't imagine what could have led to this. He seemed like a good man; then so did his father," one man told Times of Malta.

A woman living a few doors down also found herself at a loss to explain what had happened.

"You would never imagine something like this here at all, let alone it happening again," she said.

"It's shocking. They were all good people. But you never know what's going on behind closed doors

In 2005, Marija Lourdes's husband Paul had been jailed for 31 years for having shot and killed a couple who lived next door to them in Għaxaq.