Authorities searched for a man described as armed and dangerous Wednesday following a shooting that left three people dead at an Alabama mobile home community near Birmingham.

Gardendale police released a photo of a potential suspect in a Facebook post and told residents to stay inside during the manhunt.

Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said police notified his office about the deaths, but investigators were still at the scene and no identities were available.

Mayor Stan Hogeland said he had talked with relatives of some of the victims and described them as "distraught."

"We're doing everything we can to try to find this guy," Hogeland told reporters.

The search for a man police identified as Kenneth Dion Lever, 52, of Pensacola, Florida, initially focused in woods near the Peachtree Crossings mobile home community, where the shootings occurred, but police later said they believed he had left the area.

Lever might be in any of three vehicles, police said.

A worker who answered the phone at the mobile home community declined comment, citing instructions from law enforcement.

Court records show a judge issued an order in December telling Lever to stay away from ex-wife Dana Lever and their daughter, a juvenile. Dana Lever sought the protective order claiming the man was stalking and harassing them, records show.

Separately, charges against Lever involving sexual abuse of a minor were filed in York County, Pennsylvania, according to the request from Dana Lever.

A hearing in the Alabama case is scheduled for July 26, a court docket showed.