Jehovah’s Witnesses hall shooting kills at least eight in Germany

• The seven victims of a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall were an unborn child.
• The gunman “killed himself” after police stormed the building.
• EU Commissioner for Home Affairs expressed her sorrow over the deadly shooting.

One of the seven victims of a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Hamburg was an unborn child, according to a press conference held on Friday by the city’s interior minister.

German police are still searching for a possible motive after the shooter opened fire on Thursday evening. ”Hamburg has never seen a mass shooting like this,” Interior Minister Andy Grote told reporters.

The Interior Minister went on to say that the gunman ”killed himself” after police stormed the building, and that he acted alone. ”There could have been more victims if police had not intervened so quickly,” he said.

The city’s police said in their latest statement: ”Eight people are dead – including the alleged perpetrator.

“Other people were injured in the incident, some seriously.”

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany said in a statement: “The religious community is deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service.”

One unidentified witness described the moment the shots rang out in the Thursday evening attack. “We heard shots,” they said as quoted by news agency. “There were 12 continuous shots. Then we saw how people were taken away in black bags.”

A neighbor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses center in Hamburg told media Friday: “I heard … Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And I wondered, ‘who is still working with the jackhammer now?’ That was my first idea because you don’t hear any gunshots [around here].”

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Another neighbor told RTL: “We were not at home at all. Our son called us that there had been a shooting across the street at the Jehovah’s Witnesses and he had even filmed parts of it, thinking it was a scare gun.”

Police were initially unaware of how many gunmen might have been involved when the killings in the northern German city took place about 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET).

Nevertheless, further information from the local police department revealed there was just one assailant, who is thought to have passed away at the scene.

“At present, we believe there is one perpetrator,” Hamburg police said in their latest update on their Twitter account, hours after armed officers scoured the scene for evidence and suspects.

“All police measures in the vicinity are being successively discontinued. The investigation into the circumstances of the crime continues.”

Politicians were led in their condemnation of the killing spree in the city of northern Germany by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Several members of a Jehovah community fell victim to a brutal act of violence last night. My thoughts are with them and their loved ones,” he wrote on Twitter.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson expressed her sorrow over the deadly shooting, writing on Twitter: “A shocking attack on a church in GrossBorstel, Hamburg last night.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

“Thanks to @PolizeiHamburg who responded to the attack immediately and with incredible bravery.”

French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his condolences. “Terrible news from Hamburg,” he said on Twitter Friday. ”I send France’s condolences to the relatives of the victims and to all our German friends. Our thoughts are with them.”

A police official had earlier stated that investigators were looking into whether the gunman was one of the numerous victims who had been discovered deceased at the scene.

The bottom floor of the building, where an event was taking place, was where police found dead and injured persons after being called to the scene, Hamburg police spokesman Holger Vehren told NTV.

When the officers first entered the building, they also heard a shooting on the top floor and discovered a deceased person there.

According to a police spokeswoman, they think it might have been the shooter, but at this point, they are unable to provide any other details.

Many armed police officers could be seen inside and around the Kingdom Hall in footage from the area as a helicopter buzzed overhead. At one time, a bomb-disposal squad was sent out.

Police had earlier issued a warning of “high risk” in the region, and the neighborhood’s streets had been blocked off, the spokeswoman continued.

Residents in the area have been asked to stay inside.

There is “no verifiable information on the motive for the crime,” police said on Twitter as they begged people not to post any unconfirmed conclusions.

Peter Tschentscher, the mayor of Hamburg, tweeted that the reports of the tragedy were “terrible” and offered his “deepest sympathies” to the victims’ families.

Religious groups in Hamburg sent messages of encouragement.

“The news of this bloody crime in Hamburg-Alsterdorf is shocking and leaves me speechless… My deepest sympathy goes to the relatives of the victims,” Father Sascha-Philipp Geissler, a senior member of Hamburg’s Catholic diocese, said in a statement.

Although less common than in the United States, shootings still occur occasionally in Germany.

A guy opened fire on students in a lecture hall at Heidelberg University in southwest Germany in January 2022, leaving at least one person dead.

Several persons were killed in a mass shooting in 2020 at two shisha bars in Hanau.

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