Status: 04/06/2023 10:58 p.m
The father of Hamburg amok shooter Philipp F. contacted the authorities in 2021 because of his son’s mental problems. This was announced on Thursday in the Citizens’ Committee on the Interior. In addition, the Hanseatic Gun Club told NDR that it passed on a warning regarding Philipp F. to the weapons department of the Hamburg police this winter.
Before the interior committee of the Hamburg Parliament, Jan Hieber, head of the State Criminal Police Office in the Hanseatic city, said that Philipp F.’s father called the social psychiatric service and said that his son heard voices and wanted to kill himself. After a conversation with the son, however, no further measures were found necessary.
LKA: Change of character detected in 2019
As early as 2019, the environment of the later perpetrator noticed a change in character in Philipp F. after he ended his relationship and lost his job, said Hieber. Philipp F. then contacted doctors himself “to get his mental problems under control” and had meanwhile also been in inpatient treatment in Bavaria. When Philipp F. announced in 2021 that he wanted to heal himself, the father decided to involve the authorities.
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Gun Club: Warning of gunman forwarded to gun authority
According to the Hanseatic Gun Club in Hamburg, the authorities informed the authorities about a possible threat from Philipp F. this winter. The spokesman for the Gun Club, of which Philipp F. has been a member since October 2021, told the research format STRG_F (NDR and radio) and T-Online that he had forwarded a warning to the Hamburg police weapons authority. The assassin’s brother is said to have called the shooting club in January and pointed out a “change” from Philipp F. This information was immediately forwarded by telephone to the responsible department at the weapons authority.
The “Zeit” had reported online on Thursdaythat the Gun Club, where the perpetrator learned to shoot, had been warned early on. In its article, the newspaper referred to investigators. Accordingly, the police were not warned by the Gun Club. The spokesman for the shooting club now contradicts this.
Last shooting practice at the club on December 12th
According to the Gun Club, Philipp F. has had a gun owner’s license since December 6, 2022, he last shot at the club on December 12 and then did not appear there again.
At the beginning of January, the warning from the brother was received by the club by telephone. The weapons authorities were even asked how the brother could inform those responsible about Philipp F.’s “change”.
According to the research, the authority is said to have said that an anonymous tip was sufficient. Shortly thereafter, on January 24, 2023, the police actually received an anonymous tip warning that Philipp F. was suffering from paranoia and that in the eyes of the whistleblower he was incapable of owning a gun. The weapons authority had then arranged for a so-called gun ownership check at Philipp F., but according to the police, the officials had not found anything suspicious.
Confronted with the Gun Club’s statements, police chief Ralf Martin Mayer referred to the ongoing investigations to STRG_F and T-Online. Everything is currently a “snapshot”. It remains to be seen to what extent the statements are true.
Grote and Meyer: Weapons authorities could not have prevented the amok attack
The role of the Hamburg Weapons Authority has been in focus since the amok attack. Specifically, it is about the question of whether, following an anonymous tip-off during an inspection of the sport shooter a few weeks before the crime, she should have become aware of his mental state and should have withdrawn his weapon.
In the interior committee, the Hamburg police and the interior authority stated on Thursday that they still saw no misconduct by the weapons authority in the background check of the later gunman. Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) and Police President Meyer referred in this context to previous findings of a police inspection group and the technical supervision of the interior authority. Even if a book written by Philipp F., with which the anonymous whistleblower wanted to prove the mental disorder of the later perpetrator, had been evaluated by the weapons authority, the crime could not have been prevented, said Meyer. Because even if one had come to the conclusion to request a professional psychological report, the 35-year-old could not have been immediately deprived of his weapon. Interior Senator Grote made a similar statement. He called again for a tightening of gun laws.
Eight dead after killing spree
During the killing spree on March 9 in Deelböge Street in the Alsterdorf district, 35-year-old Philipp F. killed seven people and himself at a community meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nine people were injured.
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