HAMBURG, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the German city of Hamburg has left eight people dead, including the suspected gunman, police said.
“Eight people were fatally injured, apparently including the suspected perpetrator,” Hamburg police said in a statement, adding that several other people were injured in Thursday’s attack, “some seriously”.
The shooter was identified as a former member of the congregation, police said. Four men, one woman and an unborn child were killed.
Police initially said that a pregnant woman had died in the attack, but they later confirmed she was among eight people wounded. Her 7-month-old fetus died.
Police identified the gunman as unmarried former church member Phillip F., aged between 30 and 40 years old, and said there was no indication of a terrorist motive. They said he left the church community about 18 months ago, “but apparently not on good terms.”
Police said that the shooter was inside the building the entire time and there was no manhunt at any point. When officers arrived, the shooter had already died by suicide.
The scene of the shooting was the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall, a modern and boxy three-story building next to an auto repair shop.
Police spokesman Holger Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting about 9:15 p.m. and were on the scene quickly. On Friday morning, police confirmed they had received almost 50 emergency calls about the shooting.
Vehren said after officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person upstairs who they suspected was a shooter. He said police did not have to use their firearms.
The police did not give any indication of a suspected motive as they briefed journalists Friday morning about the shooting that stunned Germany’s second-biggest city.
Police confirmed Friday that the gunman used a semi-automatic pistol that he was licensed to own. They said there was an anonymous letter sent to the police force several years ago claiming the suspect was mentally unstable and had shown animosity for religious followers, and that a review of his firearms licensing was carried out.
They said when questioned, Phillip F. was cooperative and gave no indication of any mental health problems, so they closed the case. He was a sports marksman.
Mass shootings are rare in Europe, where gun ownership laws are generally very strict. There is a long and strict process in Germany to obtain a permit for a handgun.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described the shooting as “a brutal act of violence.”
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted that the news was “shocking” and offered his sympathy to the victims’ relatives.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany. — NNN-AGENCIES