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A former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses shot six people, plus an unborn baby, in a church hall in the German city of Hamburg, before killing himself after police arrived, authorities said Saturday.
Police said the unborn baby also died, without specifying whether the baby’s mother was among the dead. Eight people were injured, four seriously.
Thomas Radszuweit, a Hamburg security official, said the man was a 35-year-old German citizen who was identified only as Philipp F. in line with German privacy rules. He said the suspected shooter was previously unknown to authorities in Hamburg and there were no previous cases against him.
All the victims were German nationals except for two wounded women, one of Ugandan nationality and one of Ukrainian nationality.
Radszuweit said it was not yet possible to determine why the man engaged in the shooting but there was no indication of a political motive.
The police said that the perpetrator shot himself in the hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses after officers entered the building.
The suspected shooter has a weapons license and legally owns a semi-automatic pistol, Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said.
Meyer said the man was approached by police after receiving an anonymous tip in January, saying he was “very angry at religious people, especially Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer.”
Officers said the man was cooperative and found no reason to draw a weapon, according to Meyer.
“The bottom line is an anonymous tip that says someone is worried about a psychological illness, not the basis for it [such] step by step,” he said.
Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than in the United States, but permissive compared to some of its European neighbors, and shootings are not unheard of.
‘Brutal act of violence’
Deadly violence has rocked Germany’s second-largest city. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, described the shooting as a “brutal act of violence.”
“We cannot speak because of this violence,” Scholz said at an event in Munich. “We mourn those whose lives were so cruelly taken.”
Investigatorsworked through the night to secure evidence. As of Friday morning, forensic investigators in protective white suits could still be seen outside the building as snow fell.
David Semonian, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the U.S., said in an emailed statement Friday that members are “overwhelmed around the world by the victims of this traumatic event.”
“The elders of the congregation in the local area provide pastoral care to those affected by the event,” he wrote. “We understand that authorities are still investigating the details of this crime. We appreciate the courageous assistance provided by the police and emergency services.”
Police found several injuries at the scene
The location of the shooting was the Jehovah’s Witnesses Hall of Worship, a three-story building next to a car repair shop in the Gross Borstel district, a few kilometers from downtown Hamburg.
Police spokesman Holger Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting at approximately 9:15 p.m. and rushed to the scene.
He said that after officers arrived and found a man with a gunshot wound downstairs, they heard gunshots from upstairs and found a fatally wounded man upstairs who may have been the shooter. He said the police should not use firearms.
Student Laura Bauch, who lives nearby, said there were about four shootings, German news agency dpa reported. “There were several shots at that time, approximately at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute,” he said.
He said that he looked out the window and saw someone running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall.
Witness said he heard at least 25 shots
Gregor Miesbach, who lives in the presence of the building, alerted by the sound of shots and filmed a figure entering the building through the window. Shots can then be heard from inside. The figure is later seen leaving the hall, appears in the courtyard and then shoots more inside.
Miesbach told German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one final shot followed about five minutes later, he said.
The video shows a man firing multiple shots into the building through a first-floor window before the lights inside went out.
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