Massacre at Jehovah’s Witnesses – ‘Perpetrator fled upstairs and committed suicide’ Iran and Saudi Arabia want to normalize relations

What happened?

During an event of Jehovah’s Witnesses in a church hall in Hamburg on Thursday evening, several people were shot or injured, some of them seriously.

There was a press conference on Friday at noon. Hamburg Senator for the Interior, Andy Grote, confirmed 7 fatalities, including a seven-month-old unborn child. The perpetrator was stopped by emergency services from killing more people because the police could quickly arrive at the scene due to another operation nearby.

According to Grote, the perpetrator shot himself after the security forces arrived. So there are eight fatalities in total.

Four people were seriously injured.

Who is the culprit?

The perpetrator is called Philipp F. by the police. As a sniper, he owned registered guns.

F. was a former Jehovah’s Witness member, prosecutors confirmed to media reports during the press conference.

What’s behind the fact?

According to the detectives, the background of the shots in the Alsterdorf district was initially unclear. The press conference mentioned an anonymous letter recently received by the authorities. It stated that F. strongly disliked Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer. In addition, he is mentally disturbed. As a result, F. was checked unannounced by officials and F. showed cooperation. No deviations were found during this audit, which meant that no further options for legal action were possible.

The police have set up an information portal. “Photos and videos of the crime or relevant events in this context can be uploaded to the website https://hh.zettelportal.de/,” the Hamburg police said on Twitter.

That’s what eyewitnesses say

A neighbor reported several shots at the Jehovah’s Witnesses event. “It was about four shooting periods. During these periods, several shots were always fired, with an interval of about 20 seconds to a minute,” student Lara Bauch reported late Thursday evening.

“I then looked further out the window and saw a person running like a man possessed from the ground floor to the first floor at the Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Later, people were carried into the streets on all fours by police officers. Four hours after the fatal shots, the forensic team finally entered the crime scene at night.

What happened in the church?

As the perpetrator entered the building through a window, a church event was taking place – with about 50 people. Before entering the building, the man shot several times at a car in the parking lot where a person was sitting, the police spokesman said at Friday’s press conference.

According to their website, the weekly meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses study the Bible and how its teachings can be applied in life.

(yam/sda/dpa)