With the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Act, victims and perpetrators: What we know about the act of violence in Hamburg – and what not
Investigators are at work the morning after the fatal shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses center
© Steven Hutchings/Tnn/DPA
Several people were shot dead at an event organized by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg. The investigation is still ongoing, but some facts about the crime and the number of victims are already known.
After the deadly shots at a Jehovah’s Witnesses event in Hamburg, the police are continuing their investigations at the scene of the crime. “At the moment the handovers are going on here. It’s all in flux,” said a police spokesman on Friday morning in Hamburg. He was initially unable to give details of the dead and injured and how the crime happened. There is no further information on this yet. At 12 noon, the Hamburg police want to inform the media at a press conference. What is known so far and what is not.
The fact
Shortly before 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, several shots were fired in a Jehovah’s Witnesses building. According to the municipality’s website, one of the two weekly meetings takes place there on Thursdays at 7 p.m. At around 9.15 p.m. numerous calls informed the police about the shots. Police forces are quickly at the scene of the crime and hear another shot on the upper floor of the building, where they also find a fatally injured person.
Whether the perpetrator came from outside or was part of the event is just as unclear as the detailed sequence in which the shots were fired. A video shows how a person first shoots through a pane from the outside before entering the building and more shots can be heard. According to a local resident, there should have been four shooting periods, each with several shots.
The victims
Several dead and injured with gunshot wounds are found in the building. On Friday morning, the Hamburg police announced that eight people were fatally injured in the act. Among the dead was “apparently the alleged perpetrator”.
It is unclear how many people were actually present at the evening event in the house of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Hamburg
Act of violence among Jehovah’s Witnesses: the large-scale operation of the police and rescuers in pictures
The culprit
On Friday night, the police assumed it was a single perpetrator. There was therefore no evidence of a fugitive perpetrator. The police and interior authorities had not initially announced any information about the perpetrator. According to the police, one of the dead is the alleged perpetrator.
A local resident spoke of a man dressed in dark clothing who ran frantically down the stairwell of the building. She couldn’t say anything about the age. The “Spiegel” reportsthat the suspect is said to be a former parishioner.
The motif
According to information from security circles, the Hamburg police classified the shots fired during an event of Jehovah’s Witnesses as an amok act. It is initially unclear why the perpetrator fired.