Mahaz News
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Germany was in shock on Friday after a gunman killed six individuals in addition to an unborn youngster at a Jehovah’s Witnesses heart in Hamburg, earlier than turning the gun on himself as police stormed the constructing.
The attacker, a 35-year outdated German nationwide, was a former member of the Jehovah Witnesses neighborhood, in response to Hamburg’s state prosecutor.
German police are nonetheless looking for a doable motive after the shooter opened fireplace on an occasion attended by 50 individuals on Thursday night. ”Hamburg has by no means seen a mass capturing like this,” Interior Minister Andy Grote stated at a press convention on Friday.
The gunman acted alone, Grote stated. ”There might have been extra victims if police had not intervened so rapidly,” he stated.
The mom of the unborn child that was killed survived her gunshot accidents, Hamburg police chief Matthias Tresp advised reporters. Police stated that 4 males and two girls – all German nationals between the ages of 33 and 60 – died within the assault.
Eight individuals had been wounded, 4 of them critically. Police stated that amongst them are six girls and two males; six are German nationals, one injured particular person is from Uganda and one from Ukraine. The victims should not associated to the suspected perpetrator, Tresp stated.
The suspect left the Jehovah’s Witnesses neighborhood about 18 months in the past, “apparently not on good terms,” Thomas Radszuweit, a Hamburg safety official, advised reporters Friday. He was a 35-year-old German nationwide, recognized solely as Philipp F. in keeping with German privateness legal guidelines.
Philipp F. was a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, however it’s unclear if he was excluded from the neighborhood or left voluntarily. The suspected shooter was not beforehand recognized to authorities in Hamburg, in response to Radszuweit. Why the suspect went on the capturing rampage is as but unknown, he added, and there’s no indication of a political motive.
Meanwhile Ralf Peter Anders, spokesman for the Hamburg prosecution’s workplace, stated there was “no indication of a terrorist background” to the assault.
Ralf Martin Meyer, Hamburg’s chief of police, stated investigations had been ongoing into the psychological state of the suspect, including that it was doable the suspect suffered from psychological sickness. Meyer stated he had been in authorized possession of a semi-automatic pistol since December 2022. During the assault the gunman shot 9 magazines of ammunition.
Messages of condolence poured in from politicians and non secular leaders, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denouncing the “brutal act of violence.”
Police had been referred to as to the scene at 9:04 p.m. native time (3:04 p.m. ET) Thursday evening, Grote stated. The first groups arrived at 9:08 p.m. and entered the constructing three minutes later.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany stated in a press release: “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 second the pictures rang out within the Thursday night assault. “We heard shots,” they stated as quoted by Reuters news company. “There were 12 continuous shots. Then we saw how people were taken away in black bags.”
A neighbor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses heart in Hamburg advised Mahaz News affiliate RTL Germany 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].”
Another neighbor advised 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.”
Chancellor Scholz led politicians in denouncing the homicide spree within the northern German metropolis.
“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.
He later stated the nation has been left “stunned” by the capturing. Speaking at a commerce truthful in Munich Friday, the German chancellor highlighted the devastating affect of the “terrible incident” which occurred in his hometown of Hamburg. “We are stunned by this violence,” Scholz stated.
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson expressed her sorrow, writing on Twitter: “A stunning assault on a church in GrossBorstel, Hamburg final evening. My ideas are with the victims and their households.
“Thanks to @PolizeiHamburg who responded to the attack immediately and with incredible bravery.”
French President Emmanuel Macron additionally expressed his condolences. “Terrible news from Hamburg,” he stated on Twitter Friday. ”I ship France’s condolences to the kin of the victims and to all our German mates. Our ideas are with them.”
Footage from the scene on Thursday evening confirmed quite a few armed cops inside and across the Kingdom Hall whereas a helicopter flew overhead. A bomb disposal crew was deployed at one level.
The streets across the place of worship had been cordoned off, and police earlier warned of “extreme danger” within the space, the spokesperson added. Local residents had been urged to remain indoors.
There is “no confirmed information on the motive for the crime,” police stated on Twitter as they urged individuals to not share any unconfirmed assumptions.
Messages of help additionally got here in from Hamburg’s non secular communities.
“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, stated in a press release.
Shootings in Germany should not remarkable, although rarer than within the United States. According to statistics revealed by the nation’s National Firearms Register in 2013, Germany has, per capita, the fourth-highest gun possession of any nation. However, its strict legal guidelines imply they’re largely stored out of the general public eye.
German residents require a weapons possession card to personal or purchase a gun and a weapons license to make use of or carry a loaded gun. Hunters don’t want a weapons license so long as they’ve a looking license.
Gun management legal guidelines in Germany have been additional tightened in recent times after a number of capturing incidents. A brand new Weapons Act was launched in 2003 after a faculty capturing in Erfurt that left 16 individuals useless.
In January 2022, at the very least one particular person was killed after a person opened fireplace on college students in a lecture corridor at Heidelberg University in southwestern Germany.
And in 2020, a mass capturing at two shisha bars in Hanau killed a number of individuals.
Clarification: This story has been up to date to make clear the variety of victims after additional info from police – six individuals and an unborn youngster.
Source web site: www.cnn.com
