CNN
—
Germany was in shock on Friday after a gunman killed six folks in addition to an unborn youngster at a Jehovah’s Witnesses middle in Hamburg, earlier than turning the gun on himself as police stormed the constructing.
The attacker, a 35-year previous German nationwide, was a former member of the Jehovah Witnesses group, in accordance with Hamburg’s state prosecutor.
German police are nonetheless trying to find a potential motive after the shooter opened hearth on an occasion attended by 50 folks on Thursday night. ”Hamburg has by no means seen a mass taking pictures like this,” Inside Minister Andy Grote mentioned at a press convention on Friday.
The gunman acted alone, Grote mentioned. ”There may have been extra victims if police had not intervened so rapidly,” he mentioned.
The mom of the unborn child that was killed survived her gunshot accidents, Hamburg police chief Matthias Tresp informed reporters. Police mentioned that 4 males and two girls – all German nationals between the ages of 33 and 60 – died within the assault.
Eight folks had been wounded, 4 of them significantly. Police mentioned that amongst them are six girls and two males; six are German nationals, one injured particular person is from Uganda and one from Ukraine. The victims should not associated to the suspected perpetrator, Tresp mentioned.
The suspect left the Jehovah’s Witnesses group about 18 months in the past, “apparently not on good phrases,” Thomas Radszuweit, a Hamburg safety official, informed reporters Friday. He was a 35-year-old German nationwide, recognized solely as Philipp F. in step with German privateness legal guidelines.
Philipp F. was a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, however it’s unclear if he was excluded from the group or left voluntarily. The suspected shooter was not beforehand identified to authorities in Hamburg, in accordance with Radszuweit. Why the suspect went on the taking pictures rampage is as but unknown, he added, and there’s no indication of a political motive.
In the meantime Ralf Peter Anders, spokesman for the Hamburg prosecution’s workplace, mentioned there was “no indication of a terrorist background” to the assault.
Ralf Martin Meyer, Hamburg’s chief of police, mentioned investigations had been ongoing into the psychological state of the suspect, including that it was potential the suspect suffered from psychological sickness. Meyer mentioned he had been in authorized possession of a semi-automatic pistol since December 2022. Through the assault the gunman shot 9 magazines of ammunition.
Messages of condolence poured in from politicians and non secular leaders, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denouncing the “brutal act of violence.”
Police had been known as to the scene at 9:04 p.m. native time (3:04 p.m. ET) Thursday night time, Grote mentioned. The primary groups arrived at 9:08 p.m. and entered the constructing three minutes later.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany mentioned in an announcement: “The spiritual group is deeply saddened by the horrific assault on its members on the Kingdom Corridor in Hamburg after a non secular service.”
One unidentified witness described the second the photographs rang out within the Thursday night assault. “We heard photographs,” they mentioned as quoted by Reuters information company. “There have been 12 steady photographs. Then we noticed how folks had been taken away in black baggage.”
A neighbor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses middle in Hamburg informed CNN affiliate RTL Germany Friday: “I heard … Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And I puzzled, ‘who remains to be working with the jackhammer now?’ That was my first concept since you don’t hear any gunshots [around here].”
One other neighbor informed RTL: “We weren’t at dwelling in any respect. Our son known as us that there had been a taking pictures throughout the road on the Jehovah’s Witnesses and he had even filmed elements of it, considering it was a scare gun.”
Chancellor Scholz led politicians in denouncing the homicide spree within the northern German metropolis.
“A number of members of a Jehovah group fell sufferer to a brutal act of violence final night time. My ideas are with them and their family members,” he wrote on Twitter.
He later mentioned the nation has been left “shocked” by the taking pictures. Talking at a commerce honest in Munich Friday, the German chancellor highlighted the devastating affect of the “horrible incident” which occurred in his hometown of Hamburg. “We’re shocked by this violence,” Scholz mentioned.
EU Commissioner for Dwelling Affairs Ylva Johansson expressed her sorrow, writing on Twitter: “A surprising assault on a church in GrossBorstel, Hamburg final night time. My ideas are with the victims and their households.
“Because of @PolizeiHamburg who responded to the assault instantly and with unbelievable bravery.”
French President Emmanuel Macron additionally expressed his condolences. “Horrible information from Hamburg,” he mentioned on Twitter Friday. ”I ship France’s condolences to the kinfolk of the victims and to all our German mates. Our ideas are with them.”
Footage from the scene on Thursday night time confirmed quite a few armed cops inside and across the Kingdom Corridor whereas a helicopter flew overhead. A bomb disposal crew was deployed at one level.
The streets across the place of worship had been cordoned off, and police earlier warned of “excessive hazard” within the space, the spokesperson added. Native residents had been urged to remain indoors.
There’s “no confirmed info on the motive for the crime,” police mentioned on Twitter as they urged folks to not share any unconfirmed assumptions.
Messages of help additionally got here in from Hamburg’s spiritual communities.
“The information of this bloody crime in Hamburg-Alsterdorf is surprising and leaves me speechless… My deepest sympathy goes to the kinfolk of the victims,” Father Sascha-Philipp Geissler, a senior member of Hamburg’s Catholic diocese, mentioned in an announcement.
Shootings in Germany should not unparalleled, although rarer than in america. In response to statistics printed by the nation’s Nationwide Firearms Register in 2013, Germany has, per capita, the fourth-highest gun possession of any nation. Nevertheless, its strict legal guidelines imply they’re largely stored out of the general public eye.
German residents require a weapons possession card to personal or purchase a gun and a weapons license to make use of or carry a loaded gun. Hunters don’t want a weapons license so long as they’ve a looking license.
Gun management legal guidelines in Germany have been additional tightened in recent times after a number of taking pictures incidents. A brand new Weapons Act was launched in 2003 after a faculty taking pictures in Erfurt that left 16 folks useless.
In January 2022, at the very least one particular person was killed after a person opened hearth on college students in a lecture corridor at Heidelberg College in southwestern Germany.
And in 2020, a mass taking pictures at two shisha bars in Hanau killed a number of folks.
Clarification: This story has been up to date to make clear the variety of victims after additional info from police – six folks and an unborn youngster.
