Placid Lake Annecy was jolted by the brutal massacre. (Guilhem Vellut/Flickr)

As the BBC reports, British citizen Saad al-Hilli and his wife, Iqbal, along with an elderly women, were shot and killed in their car as they drove on a forest road near Lake Annecy. The two al-Hilli daughters were also in the car; the elder, 7 years old, is currently at a hospital undergoing treatment after being found outside the car with serious injuries, but the younger 4-year-old hid inside the cab for eight hours before being rescued by police.

A French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was also found shot to death nearby.

The al-Hilli family of Surrey had been camping in the resort area, which was shocked by the nature of the killings. All four victims were shot in the head with a semiautomatic pistol, implying that they were deliberately executed at close range.

A neighbor of the al-Hillis said he was "speechless and cried for while" upon hearing the news, describing them as a "well-established" family with deep ties to the community.

The multi-hour delay in finding the second daughter drew criticism, but law enforcement authorities said this was due to not wanting to open the car doors before forensic investigators could take a look, as well as thermal imaging and visual inspection through the windows not turning up signs of another person. Police also pointed at the fact that there was only one child seat in the car.

Reach Executive Producer Matt Pressberg here.