Hamburg rampage
Relatives of Philipp F. speak of psychosis and “religious madness”
According to a relative, Philipp F. was mentally disturbed
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The killing spree in Hamburg caused horror throughout Germany even days later. A relative of the perpetrator spoke to a newspaper of a “religious madness” that Philipp F. had succumbed to.
After the rampage in Hamburg, a relative of the perpetrator Philipp F. spoke to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. As the man told the newspaper, after hearing the news from the north, he “immediately feared that it was him”. The report does not reveal the relationship between him and the 35-year-old man who killed seven people and himself on Thursday.
Hamburg rampage: Relatives of the perpetrator speak of psychosis
The man, who is named Heinrich O., states that he also dropped out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The authorities assume that Philipp F. committed his crime, among other things, out of hatred for the religious community. His relative was mentally ill, O. told the newspaper. He speaks of indications of a psychosis and of a “religious madness” that F. had succumbed to. However, he always turned down offers of help. In many communities of Jehovah’s Witnesses there is a climate of psychological pressure, remembers the man who, by his own admission, already experienced the later gunman as a “sensitive” child – but dealings with the immediate family would have been loving.
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When F. moved to Hamburg for professional reasons in his early 20s, he joined the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses there, but left after about a year and a half, disillusioned. O. last met his relative in person in the summer of 2022, and according to his own statement, he experienced a “highly aggressive” person whom he would hardly have recognized. Nevertheless, he says, he never thought that F. could ever become violent. O. does not want to know that his relative now had a gun license. Apparently he last tried to get in touch in January. However, his message went unanswered.
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Source:“Augsburg General”