A British teenager and her American boyfriend have died after they allegedly shot dead a police officer in Florida. Alexandria Hollinghurst (17) and Brandon Goode (18) are believed to have killed themselves after the officer was murdered in Orlando, Florida.

Officer Robert German had called for backup after seeing two individuals acting suspiciously in the suburb of Windermere at about 4am on Saturday.

But when officers arrived to help, they discovered the policeman (31) had been shot. Investigators say the suspects were found dead nearby.

Mr German was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the two teenagers may have taken their own lives after Mr. German was shot dead.

Sheriff Jerry Demings said "The two suspects were found very close to where Officer German was shot. It appears to be that both suspects, a male and female, died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds".

Alexandria, known as Alex, is understood to have been born in Britain and lived in northwest England. She is believed to have moved to America with her family around six years ago.

Grace Etchells, who went to primary school with Alex in Hadfield, Derbyshire, paid tribute to her on Twitter.

She wrote "So horrible knowing a very close friend from primary Alex Hollinghurst sadly got taken from us in such horrific circumstances. RIP lovely xx".

An investigation into the "senseless tragedy" is ongoing, said Windermere Police Chief David Ogden. "Officer German was a good cop" he said.

Mr. German had been with the department for five years and recently returned to duty after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Windermere has a population of about 3,000 people and one of the lowest crime rates in Florida, Mayor Gary Bruhn said. He said it was the first line-of-duty death in the town's history.

"Violent crime is just not something that happens in the town of Windermere. So it's really, really difficult" Mr. Bruhn said.