Seven killed in shooting at Jehovah’s Witness hall in Germany, police say #usnews

A shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness hall in Hamburg on Thursday night left seven people dead, with others seriously wounded, Hamburg police said.

The shooting happened at a building on Deelböge Street in the Groß Borstel district, police said. The district is a residential area in northern Hamburg.

Law enforcement additionally believe they found the body of the alleged gunman onsite. They earlier said that they did not yet have reliable information on the motive behind the shooting.

After arriving at the crime scene, police heard a gunshot from within the Jehovah’s Witness building and found a body when they followed the sound, Hamburg police spokesman Holger Vehren said in an on-camera interview from the scene. The police found several people dead and others injured by bullets when they arrived at the building around 9:15 p.m. local time, he added.

Vehren said late Thursday that police teams were conducting a crime scene analysis and gathering information about the victims.

The city’s emergency services were working “flat out to track down” whoever was responsible for the shooting and look for a motive, according to a translation of Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher’s statement on Twitter.

Images from the scene taken by local photographers showed a large number of heavily armed police clad in body armor, holding long guns and organizing themselves outside a three-story building.

Ambulances could be seen arriving at the modern-looking structure, as well, photos show.

People who were in or near the building at the time of the shooting were pictured being escorted away on foot by emergency workers

Tschentscher, the Hamburg mayor, said the reports coming out of Groß Borstel “are shocking,” and offered his “deepest condolences to the families of the victims.”

Other photos showed a member of a bomb disposal squad inside the building, along with police officers in tactical gear.

“The dead all have gunshot wounds,” a police spokesman told Northern German Broadcasting, the local public radio and television broadcaster.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are members of a Christian-based faith group that claims 8.6 million adherents in its congregations, known as Kingdom Halls, across more than 150 countries. The religious group was founded in the United States.

A gunman killed six people Thursday night at a Jehovah's Witnesses hall in the German city of Hamburg before apparently turning his gun on himself. The shooter was identified as a former member of the congregation, police said Friday. Four men, one woman and an unborn child were killed. Police initially said Friday 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 on Friday as unmarried former church member Phillip F., 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 had told CBS News previously 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 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.

German magazine Der Spiegel first reported that the suspect was "said to have been a former member of Jehovah's Witnesses... between 30 and 40 years old."

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 much stricter than in many U.S. states. 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."

Investigators worked through the night to secure evidence. On Friday morning, forensic investigators in protective white suits could still be seen outside the building as a light snow fell. Officers placed yellow cones on the ground and windowsills to mark evidence.