Germany updates: Unborn baby among 7 killed in Hamburg shooting
Political motive ruled out in mass shooting tragedy at a Jehovah’s Witnesses centre.
This blog is now closed. These were the updates on the mass shooting in Hamburg on Thursday and Friday, March 9 and 10. For more developments, click here.
This blog is now closed. These were the updates on the mass shooting in Hamburg on Thursday and Friday, March 9 and 10. For more developments, click here.
- A gunman has killed at least seven people, including an unborn baby, at a Jehovah’s Witnesses centre in the northern German city of Hamburg, according to police.
- Prosecutors have ruled out a political motive behind Thursday night’s incident and say the suspect was an ex-member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- According to the regional interior minister, Andy Grote, the attacker fled to the first floor of the building after police burst in and killed himself.
- Grote said the rapid police deployment likely saved lives.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called the incident “a brutal act of violence”.
Scholz ‘speechless’ at Jehovah’s Witness hall shooting
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that he was left “speechless” by the shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness place of worship in his hometown of Hamburg and his thoughts went out to the victims and their relatives.
“We fear that further victims may die from their severe wounds,” he said, thanking security forces for their work.
Hamburg gunman was ‘ex-member of Jehovah’s Witnesses’: police
The gunman who shot dead seven people at a Jehovah’s Witnesses centre in Hamburg before turning the gun on himself was a former member of the religious group, according to the police.
“Philipp F was a former member” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, authorities said, adding that the attacker left the community about 18 months ago “but apparently not on good terms”.
There was “no indication of a terrorist background” to the attack, a spokesman for the Hamburg prosecution’s office said.
Attacker shot nine magazines of ammunition: Police
Hamburg chief of police says the attacker was in legal possession of a semi-automatic pistol since December.
Ralf Martin Meyer added at a news conference that the perpetrator shot nine magazines of ammunition during the attack in Hamburg.
Authorities said 50 guests were attending the event in the building at the time of the attack.
Hamburg gunman ‘killed himself’ after police stormed building
The suspect who shot dead seven people at a Jehovah’s Witnesses centre in Hamburg killed himself after police stormed the building, the regional interior minister says, adding that a pregnant woman was among the victims.
The attacker fled to the first floor of the building after police burst in “and killed himself”, said Andy Grote, adding that the rapid police deployment likely “saved many lives”.
A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those killed, he added.
Bodies are being removed from the attack site
Al Jazeera’s William Peacock, reporting from Hamburg, says undertaker vans took two coffins from the building where the shooting took place.
“The bodies being removed,” he said.
“We are waiting to hear from the police in Hamburg imminently [11:00 GMT] on the latest casualty figures and perhaps who this person was,” he added.
News conference to reveal more details on the attack
Journalist Dagmar Gehm, reporting from Hamburg, says a news conference by the police is expected at 11:00 GMT probably to give more information on the attack.
“We don’t know the reason why the perpetrator attacked the members of the [Jehovah’s Witnesses] community,” she said.
“The community is known for their peaceful background. They are kind people,” she said.
Swift arrival of special forces distracted attacker: Police
The head of Germany’s GdP police union in Hamburg, Horst Niens, says he is convinced that the swift arrival of a special operations unit “distracted the perpetrator and may have prevented further victims”.
Officers apparently reached the hall while the attack was ongoing and heard one more shot after they arrived, according to witnesses and authorities.
Macron sends condolences to victims
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his dismay following the shooting in Hamburg.
“Terrible news from Hamburg. I send France’s condolences to the relatives of the victims and to all our German friends. Our thoughts are with them,” Macron wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Police call on witnesses to come forward
Police have asked witnesses of the attack in Hamburg to come forward and upload any pictures or videos they may have to a special website.
Interior minister Nancy Faeser said investigators were “working flat-out to determine the background” to the attack.
News weekly Der Spiegel reported that the suspected attacker was a former member of the Jehovah’s Witness community who was not a known “extremist”.
The magazine, which did not cite its sources, described him as a man aged 30-40 and said he had been armed with a handgun.
Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘deeply saddened’ by German ‘attack on members’
The Jehovah’s Witnesses community in Germany has expressed deep sadness over an “horrific” deadly shooting in Hamburg that it said targeted its members.
“The religious community is deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany association said in a statement.
German police: Eight dead in Jehovah’s Witnesses hall shooting
Eight people have been killed in the shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in Hamburg, German police have said.
Police gave the figure on their website. There was still no word on a possible motive for the shooting.
Scholz: A brutal act of violence
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said his thoughts were with the victims of the shooting in Hamburg.
“Several members of a Jehovah community fell victim to a brutal act of violence last night,” Scholz tweeted. “My thoughts are with them and their loved ones.”
Witness: I heard at least 25 shots
Gregor Miesbach, who lives within sight of the building where the shootings took place, has said that he was alerted by the sound of shots and filmed a figure entering the building through a window.
He said that shots could then be heard from inside. Miesbach told German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots.
Witness: There were four periods of shooting
A witness has said that “there were about four periods of shooting” during the incident, according to German news agency dpa.
“There were always several shots in these periods, roughly at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute,” Laura Bauch, a student who lives nearby, said.
She added that she looked out her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall.
Germany rocked by deadly attacks in recent years
Germany has been shaken by a number of shootings and violent attacks in the last few years.
In February 2020, a gunman with suspected far-right links shot dead nine people, including people from Turkey, in the western town of Hanau before killing himself and his mother.
In October 2019, a gunman killed two people when he opened fire outside a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
Among the deadliest attacks was a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people. The Tunisian attacker, a failed asylum seeker, was a supporter of ISIL (ISIS).
Victims suffered gunshot wounds, police to hold press briefing
German police will hold a press conference scheduled for Friday at about midday local time (11:00 GMT) on the state of their investigation into the attack at the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall building in Hamburg.
Police in Hamburg have classified the crime as a rampage, security sources told the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
Though police have not confirmed the number of dead and injured, all of those killed suffered gunshot wounds, according to a police spokesperson, dpa reported.
Police believe gunman among dead
Police are focusing their investigation on the motive for the attack on the Jehovah’s Witnesses centre as they believe a gunman acting alone was responsible for the deadly violence, Reuters news agency has reported.
Police have declined to say how many people were killed but said the gunman was believed to be among the dead.
Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that seven people died and eight were wounded in the shooting.
“According to the current state of affairs, we assume that there is one perpetrator,” police said in a message on Twitter.
“Police activities in the surrounding area are being successively discontinued. Investigations into the motives behind the crime are continuing.”
Key points: Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany
- The Jehovah’s Witnesses – an international Christian denomination – was founded in the United States in the 19th century and has a more than 100-year history in Germany.
- There are about 2,020 Jehovah’s Witness congregations and 170,491 ministers (the baptised Witnesses) in Germany, according to the denomination’s website.
- Members are known for their evangelistic efforts including knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares.
- In 2017, they received the same legal status granted to leading religions in Germany.
- In 2021, the German State Parliament commemorated the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ courageous stand against Nazi abuse.
- About 1,500 Jehovah’s Witnesses died during the Holocaust out of about 35,000 who lived in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries at the time. They were persecuted by the Nazi government because they remained politically neutral and refused to renounce their beliefs.
Police lift safety warning after shooting: Reports
Police in Hamburg have lifted a warning that was issued to the public after several people were shot and killed inside the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in the Gross Borstel district.
A police spokesperson told broadcaster NTV that authorities were assuming there was no perpetrator on the run and therefore no further danger to the public in the area, Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency reported.
Earlier, a police spokesperson told reporters that a body found at the site of the shooting could have been that of the suspect, although this has not been confirmed.
Hamburg mayor sends message of sympathy to victims’ families
Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted that the reports of the shooting were “shocking” and offered his “deepest sympathy to the families of the victims”.
He said the emergency services were doing their utmost to track down the perpetrator.
Die Meldungen aus Alsterdorf / Groß Borstel sind erschütternd. Den Angehörigen der Opfer gilt mein tiefes Mitgefühl. Die Einsatzkräfte arbeiten mit Hochdruck an der Verfolgung des / der Täter & der Aufklärung der Hintergründe. Bitte beachten Sie die Hinweise der @PolizeiHamburg. https://t.co/38UcdguLzH
— Peter Tschentscher (@TschenPe) March 9, 2023
[Translation: The reports from Alsterdorf/Groß Borstel are shocking. I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. The emergency services are working at full speed on the prosecution of the perpetrator/clarification of the background. Please note the instructions from the @PolizeiHamburg.]
Police verifying no other perpetrators involved: Spokesperson
When police arrived at the scene of the shooting in the Gross Borstel district of the city, they found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor of the Jehovah’s Witness centre, spokesperson Holger Vehren said.
Officers then heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person who may have been a shooter, the Associated Press reports.
Vehren said there was no indication that a shooter was on the run and that it appeared likely that the perpetrator was either in the building or among the dead.
Police said they were still working to verify that no further perpetrators were involved.
Dozens of police, crime experts at Jehovah’s Witness centre
Dozens of police and crime scene experts are on the ground at the Jehovah’s Witness centre in Hamburg.
The photos below give an idea of what’s happening.
No indications attacker on the run
Police in Germany say there are no indications the perpetrator of the shooting was on the run.
A spokesperson says they received an emergency call soon after 9pm local time (20:00 GMT) and arrived at the scene to find several people seriously injured and some dead.
“Then they heard a shot from above, they went upstairs and found one further person,” the spokesperson said.
Locals were warned of ‘life-threatening situation’
The shooting took place in Hamburg’s northern Alsterdorf district.
Residents there say they received warnings on their mobile phones of a “life-threatening situation” and streets being sealed off.
“We heard shots,” one unnamed witness told reporters. “There were 12 continuous shots… then we saw how people were taken away in black bags,” he added.