Hamburg shooting: Seven killed in attack on Jehovah's Witness hall

Hamburg shooting: Seven killed in attack on Jehovah's Witness hall
Seven people, including an unborn child, were killed in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witnesses synagogue in Hamburg, Germany

They say the gunman acted alone in Thursday's attack and later took his own life. His motives are unknown.

The suspect, named only as Philip F, 35, is a former member of the religious community who had "malicious intentions".

Dramatic footage has now emerged which shows the suspect firing several rounds from a hall window.

At a briefing on Friday, police said four men and two women were shot and killed. A seven-month-old fetus was also killed in the womb - it died but its mother survived. All the dead were German citizens.

Eight people were injured, four in serious condition, including a Ugandan and a Ukrainian national.

Police said the first emergency call came in at 21:04 local time (20:04 GMT) on Thursday to reports that shots had been fired at the building on Dealbaug Street in the Gross Borstel district.

Officers were on site four minutes later, and they were joined by special forces almost immediately. Officers had to break windows to enter the building, where about 50 people were gathered.

The suspect – described as a "sports shooter" who had a license for a gun – had fled on the first floor. His "lifeless body" was found shortly afterwards.

He had managed to shoot nine magazines of ammunition, and 20 more were found in his bag.

German senator Andy Grothe said the "swift and decisive action" by police officers had saved many lives. He also described the attack as "the worst crime" in Hamburg's recent history.

Gregor Messbach, who videotaped the gunman shooting through a first-floor window, told Bild newspaper: "I didn't know what was happening. I was filming with my phone, and only realized through the zoom that Somebody's shooting at Jehovah's Witnesses." ,

He said, "I heard a loud gunshot...I saw a man with a gun shoot through the window and videotaped it."

Lara Bouch, a 23-year-old student who lived nearby, told the dpa news agency that "there were about four gunshots - each with multiple shots fired - about 20 seconds to a minute apart".

She said that from her window she could see a man running from the ground floor to the first floor. "The man was wearing dark clothes and was moving fast," he said.

An alert was sent to local residents on Thursday evening on the federal alert app, NINAwarn, saying "one or more unidentified perpetrators fired at people in a church".

Local residents were asked not to come out of their houses amid the ongoing police operation.

The footage showed police escorting people out of the meeting hall, some being carried to ambulances.
Forensic experts worked at the scene through the night

The reasons behind the shooting were "still completely unclear".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a "brutal act of violence", saying his thoughts were with the victims and their relatives.

In a statement, the Jehovah's Witness community in Germany said it was "deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service".

#forensicteam experts in white suits worked through the night under bright light inside the meeting house.

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a #Christian-based religious movement that was founded in America in the late 19th century.

In its latest report for 2022, the movement says there are about 8.7 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, including about 170,000 in Germany.

The organization is believed to have around 4,000 members in the city of Hamburg.

#Jehovah's #witnesses are perhaps best known for their house-to-house preaching work; Witnessing from house to house and offering Bible literature.

Although Christian-based, the group believes that traditional Christian churches have deviated from the true teachings of the Bible, and do not operate in complete harmony with God.

Germany has some of the strictest gun laws in #Europe, including a clause that anyone under the age of 25 must pass a psychological evaluation before they can obtain a gun license.

According to the National Firearms Registry, there were about one million private gun owners in #germany in 2021. They also have 5.7 million legal firearms and firearm parts, most of which are owned by hunters.

German authorities are planning to tighten the country's gun laws even more, after mass arrests were made last December in connection with a suspected plot to overthrow the government.

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