Status: 03/23/2023 07:58 a.m
In the case of the Alsterdorf gunman, there is new information. Before the fact, Philipp F. had published a book with confused content. An anonymous tip made the weapons authority aware of this. The police initially said they hadn’t found the book. As the NDR has learned, that is not true. The opposition is demanding personal consequences.
The officials entered the name Philipp F. and the term “book” on Google – and did not find the book. That’s how police chief Ralf Martin Meyer had it said at a state press conference shortly after the killing spree. Now it turned out: The latter is not true. An employee of the weapons authority had found the title of the book after the anonymous tip, but neither ordered nor downloaded it. According to the Hamburg police, the title “The truth about God, Jesus Christ and Satan” did not particularly alarm the employee of the weapons authority.
Police: Error when questioning an employee
She explains this incident by a communication error. It came about when the employee concerned was questioned on the phone. She was asked if she knew the book. But because she hadn’t read it, she said “no”. Apparently she didn’t mention finding it.
Chief of Police: The perpetrator could have kept the weapon for now
Police President Meyer told NDR on Wednesday that the employee is currently in the hospital. He stated that the current legal situation would not have allowed Philipp F. to be fired immediately, even if he had known about the book. “You would then have had to write to him so that he could get a professional psychological report himself, that’s what the law stipulates.” Philipp F. would have had four weeks to do that, according to Meyer.
Criticism by Interior Senator Grote
Hamburg’s Senator for the Interior Andy Grote (SPD) voiced quiet criticism of the maneuvers on Wednesday. “Of course I would have wished that this book had been obtained, looked at intensively and also presented to experts.” Grote rejected a replacement of the chief of police demanded by the Hamburg left-wing faction. The interior expert Deniz Celik (left) had said NDR 90.3 in relation to the claim that the police had not found the book online: “Either the chief of police does not know what is going on in his authority or he has deliberately deceived the public. Like that or so he is no longer sustainable and must therefore resign.”
CDU calls for Grote’s resignation
CDU faction leader Dennis Thering meanwhile called for the resignation of the interior senator. “Of course, it must now be ensured that such mishaps with tragic consequences are not repeated, but Interior Senator Grote is clearly the wrong man for this,” Thering told the newspaper “Welt”. The left faction also demanded Grote’s resignation.
Two reports on the perpetrator’s book
Meanwhile, two reports commissioned by the police, which have since examined the book, come to the conclusion that it contains no evidence of an act of violence. According to one of the experts, the perpetrator suffered with a high probability of a personality disorder with predominantly narcissistic components, as reported by “Zeit”. The perpetrator showed clear signs of overconfidence and megalomania and an excessive need for recognition. A second expert explained in “Spiegel” that Philipp F. had acted presumably for religious reasons. The perpetrator was a religious fanatic who felt anger at the fact that the Christian religious communities withheld the truth from believers.
Shooting spree with eight dead
On March 9, 35-year-old Philipp F. killed seven people at a community meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg – including an unborn child. He then killed himself. Nine other people were injured in the shooting.
Further information