What happened? Shots were fired in a building belonging to Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg’s Gross Borstel district around 9 p.m. on Thursday. Several people were killed or injured. The gunman had fired more than 100 times. The first emergency calls were received at 21:04, before the first forces arrived on site at 21:08. An event by Jehovah’s Witnesses is said to have taken place in the event hall of the religious community at the time of the crime.
How many people were killed? According to the Hamburg police, eight people died. In addition to the perpetrator, the fatalities are four men, two women and a fetus, a woman six months pregnant who survived. The men and women are between 33 and 60 years old, said the head of state security for the police, Thomas Radszuweit. “All of the fatalities are German nationals and died from gunshots.”
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Emergency services worked at the scene of the crime throughout the night.
Keystone/JONAS WALZBERG
What do you know about the injured? Six women and two men between the ages of 23 and 46 were injured in the attack, at least four of them life-threateningly, “some with multiple gunshot wounds,” Radszuweit said. Six of the injured are German nationals, one woman each is a Ugandan and a Ukrainian national. Hamburg’s Senator for the Interior, Andy Grote, said at a media conference on Friday afternoon: “It is very likely that we owe it to the very, very quick and decisive intervention of the police forces that there are no more victims here.”
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The police in front of the crime scene on Friday morning.
KEYSTONE/DPA/Christian Charisius
What do you know about the perpetrators? The suspected gunman is a 35-year-old German. He was a former member of the Hamburg community of Jehovah’s Witnesses and left it voluntarily a year and a half ago. Hamburg’s police chief announced that the man was a marksman and had legally owned a semi-automatic pistol since December 2022. This is the murder weapon. The suspected shooter was therefore not known to be an extremist.
What are the reactions? «Bad news from #Hamburg. Several members of a Jehovah’s Church fell victim to a brutal act of violence last night,” posted the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz via the government account on Twitter. “My thoughts are with them and their families. And with the security forces, who have had a difficult mission. »
The Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves were “deeply affected”. “Our deepest sympathy goes to the families of the victims and the traumatized eyewitnesses. The local church ministers are doing their best to assist them at this difficult time,” a statement on the community’s website said.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was “shocked”. And Hamburg too Mayor Peter Tschentscher expressed dismay. “My deepest condolences to the victims’ families,” he wrote on Twitter. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson spoke on Twitter of a “shocking act”. Her thoughts are with the victims and their families. At the same time, the Swede thanked the Hamburg police, who reacted “immediately with incredible courage”.