Hamburg shooting news – live: Gunman killed himself after shooting in Jehovah’s Witness hall

The scene of the shooting was a Kingdom Hall, next to a car repair shop in the Gross Borstel district, a few miles from Hamburg city centre

Video appears to show man firing weapon during Hamburg shooting

A man suspected of going on a killing spree in Hamburg was a former Jehovah’s Witness, German officials say.

Police said seven people were killed – which officials said includes an unborn baby – inside a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses while eight were hurt, including four seriously.

The gunman, a 35-year-old German citizen, turned the weapon on himself, the state interior minister Andy Grote told a briefing on Friday.

A quick police intervention prevented more people from being killed, Mr Grote said, adding that the gunman acted alone.

The scene of the shooting was a Kingdom Hall, next to a car repair shop in the Gross Borstel district, a few miles from Hamburg city centre.

Police spokesman Holger Vehren said officers were alerted to the shooting at about 9.15pm and arrived on the scene quickly.

After officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person upstairs who may have been the gunman, he said.

Key Points

• Unborn baby among seven killed
• Eight dead in Jehovah’s Witness Church shooting in Hamburg
• Gunman believed to be dead was sole perpetrator, say police
• Police yet to ascertain motive behind shooting
• Witnesses heard 'four periods of shooting'
• 'Brutal act of violence' says German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

[10 March 2023 03:00 · Josh Marcus]

Jehovah’s Witnesses faced history of persecution in Germany

Jehovah’s Witnesses, like a variety of minorities in Germany, were targeted for persecution by the Nazis, as members of the group refused to join the Nazi party or let their children into the Hitler Youth.

“By 1939, an estimated 6,000 Witnesses (including some from Austria and Czechoslovakia) were detained in prisons or camps,” according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Others fled Germany, continued their religious observance in private, or ceased to observe altogether.”

[10 March 2023 03:30 · Josh Marcus]

Unit of armed police already in area when shooting broke out

German police swarmed a Jehovah’s Witness facility in Hamburg after a shooting left multiple people dead on Thursday evening.

As it happened, officers from a specialised armed unit were already in the area when violence broke out.

“Police officers happened to be near the crime scene because they were on their way back to their accommodation at the police headquarters in Alsterdorf,” Welt reported.

[10 March 2023 04:00 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

Gunman believed to be dead was sole perpetrator, say police

While police in Hamburg have declined to say how many people have been killed at a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church, they believe that the gunman was among the dead.

In a statement on Twitter, police said they are discontinuing operations at the shooting site.

“According to the current state of affairs, we assume that there is one perpetrator,” police said.

“Police activities in the surrounding area are being successively discontinued. Investigations into the motives behind the crime are continuing.”

[10 March 2023 05:00 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

Witnesses heard 'four periods of shooting'

“There were about four periods of shooting,” said student Laura Bauch, who lives near the Jehovah’s Witness church in Germany where multiple people were killed.

“There were always several shots in these periods, roughly at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute,” she was quoted as saying by German news agency DPA.

She said she looked out her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall.

Gregor Miesbach, who lives within sight of the building, said to German television news agency NonstopNews that he heard at least 25 shots.

After police arrived, one last shot followed about five minutes later, he said.

Police had no information on the event that was underway in the building when the shooting took place.

Germany Shooting ((c) Copyright 2023, dpa (www.dpa.de). Alle Rechte vorbehalten)

[10 March 2023 05:30 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

Police yet to release official death toll

After a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church in Hamburg, Germany, police are yet to release an official death toll.

“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesperson Holger Vehren was quoted as saying by Associated Press.

He said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded.

Police did not confirm German media reports, which named no sources, of six or seven dead.

Police officers in special equipment stand next to a Jehovah's Witness building in Hamburg, Germany, (AP)

[10 March 2023 06:00 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

Who are Jehovah's Witnesses?

Multiple people were killed at a Jehovah’s Witness church in Germany by a gunman who police believe acted alone.

There are about 170,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany.

They are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York.

It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million.

Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares.

The denomination’s distinctive practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.

Jehovahs Witness Glance (1954 AP)

[10 March 2023 07:00 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

ICYMI: Several killed and others injured after shooting at church in Hamburg

Multiple people have died and several others are injured after a shooting in a church in Hamburg.

Lucy Skoulding, Josh Marcus report:

[10 March 2023 07:46 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

Eight including gunman killed, police say

Eight people have been killed and several others wounded in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church centre in Hamburg, Germany.

Police gave the figure on their website.

A possible motive for the shooting has still not been declared.

Police said that the deaths included the gunman who is believed to have acted alone.

Germany Shooting ((c) Tnn)

[10 March 2023 08:00 · Sravasti Dasgupta]

At a glance: Jehovah's Witness beliefs, history in Germany

Several people were killed and injured Thursday night after shots were fired inside a building where Jehovah’s Witnesses met in the northern German city of Hamburg, officials said.

The international Christian denomination founded in the United States has a more than 100-year history in Germany.

Today, about 170,000 members call the European country home, according to the denomination’s website.

Read more in this report by the Associated Press:

[10 March 2023 08:39 · Emily Atkinson]

Jehovah’s Witnesses ‘worldwide grieve for the victims’, says US spokesperson

David Semonian, a US-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in an emailed statement early on Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event”.

“The congregation elders in the local area are providing pastoral care for those affected by the event,” he wrote.

“We understand that the authorities are still investigating the details of this crime. We appreciate the courageous help provided by the police and emergency services.”