HAMBURG, Germany — A taking pictures at a Jehovah’s Witnesses corridor within the German metropolis of Hamburg left eight folks lifeless, together with apparently the perpetrator, police mentioned Friday. An unspecified variety of different folks had been wounded, a few of them severely.
There was no phrase on a potential motive for Thursday evening’s assault, which shocked Germany’s second-biggest metropolis. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described it as “a brutal act of violence.”
Police mentioned earlier that they believed there was just one shooter, and that the particular person may very well be among the many lifeless.
Officers apparently reached the corridor whereas the assault was ongoing — and heard another shot after they arrived, in accordance with witnesses and authorities. They didn’t use their very own firearms, a police spokesman mentioned.
The top of Germany’s GdP police union in Hamburg, Horst Niens, mentioned he was satisfied that the swift arrival of a particular operations unit “distracted the perpetrator and will have prevented additional victims.”
Germany’s gun legal guidelines are extra restrictive than these in america, however permissive in comparison with some European neighbors, and shootings will not be extraordinary.
Final yr, an 18-year-old man opened hearth in a packed lecture at Heidelberg College, killing one particular person and wounding three others earlier than killing himself. In January 2020, a person shot lifeless six folks together with his mother and father and wounded two others in southwestern Germany, whereas a month later, a shooter who posted a racist rant on-line killed 9 folks close to Frankfurt.
In the latest taking pictures involving a web site of worship, a far-right extremist tried to drive his manner right into a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day, in October 2019. After failing to achieve entry, he shot two folks to dying close by.
The German authorities introduced plans final yr to crack down on gun possession by suspected extremists and to tighten background checks. At the moment, anybody wanting to amass a firearm should present that they’re suited to take action, together with by proving that they require a gun. Causes can embrace being a part of a sports activities taking pictures membership or being a hunter.
On Friday morning, forensic investigators in protecting white fits may very well be seen outdoors the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Corridor, a boxy, three-story constructing subsequent to an auto restore store, a number of kilometers (miles) from downtown Hamburg. As a light-weight snow fell, officers positioned yellow cones on the bottom and windowsills to mark proof.
David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, mentioned in an emailed assertion early Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic occasion.”
“The congregation elders within the native space are offering pastoral take care of these affected by the occasion,” he wrote.
Police spokesman Holger Vehren mentioned police had been alerted to the taking pictures Thursday evening and had been on the scene rapidly.
He mentioned that the officers discovered folks with obvious gunshot wounds on the bottom flooring, after which heard a shot from an higher flooring, the place they discovered a fatally wounded one that might have been a shooter. They didn’t hearth their weapons.
Pupil Laura Bauch, who lives close by, mentioned there have been round 4 durations of taking pictures, German information company dpa reported. “There have been all the time a number of pictures in these durations,” she mentioned.
Bauch mentioned she appeared out her window and noticed an individual working from the bottom flooring to the second flooring of the Jehovah’s Witnesses corridor.
Gregor Miebach, who lives nearby of the constructing, heard pictures and filmed a determine coming into the constructing by way of a window. In his footage, pictures can then be heard from inside. The determine later apparently emerges from the corridor, is seen within the courtyard after which fires extra pictures by way of a primary flooring window earlier than the lights within the room exit.
Miebach informed German tv information company NonstopNews that he heard a minimum of 25 pictures. After police arrived, one final shot adopted, he mentioned.
His mom, Dorte Miebach, mentioned she was shocked by the taking pictures. “It’s actually 50 meters (yards) from our home and many individuals died,” she mentioned. “That is nonetheless incomprehensible. We nonetheless haven’t fairly come to phrases with it.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are a part of a world church, based in america within the nineteenth century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.
Members are recognized for his or her evangelistic efforts that embrace knocking on doorways and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s practices embrace a refusal to bear arms, obtain blood transfusions, salute a nationwide flag or take part in secular authorities.
— Moulson reported from Berlin. Related Press journalist David Rising in Bangkok and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
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