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 14:21 · Andy Gregory]

Suspected gunman legally owned a gun for sport and fired over 100 shots during attack, say officials

The suspected gunman was legally allowed to own a gun for sport and was in possession of a semi-automatic Heckler & Koch Pistole P30 pistol, police have said.

He fired more than 100 shots during the attack, and according to the head of the Hamburg prosecutors office, Ralf Peter Anders, hundreds more rounds were found in a search of the man’s apartment.

Officials in Hamburg said the suspect was a 35-year-old German national, identified only as Philipp F, in line with German privacy rules.

He is thought to have been a former Jehovah’s Witness who later professed a hatred for Jehovah’s Witnesses, but Hamburg’s state prosecutor said the motive for the attack is still unknown.

[10 March 2023 14:52 · Emily Atkinson]

Timeline of shooting at Jehovah's Witnesses hall in Germany

The Associated Press has compiled a timeline of the shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in the German city of Hamburg on Thursday evening, according to information provided by authorities on Friday:

[10 March 2023 15:53 · Emily Atkinson]

Killer was a ‘business consultant’ charging upwards of 250,000 euros a day, reports claim

The gunman who allegedly killed several people in a shooting in Hamburg on Thursday was a self-styled business consultant, who demanded extortionate fees for his services, reports suggest.

Phillip F, as he has been identified by police, promises to make his clients multi-millionaires for a minimum daily rate of “250,000 euros plus 19 percent VAT,” according to Der Speigel.

In exchange, he tells clients they would generate “at least 2.5 million euros”.

The German news site also claims that the alleged gunman was raised in the town of Kempten, Allgäu, southern Germany in a religious family.

It alleges he later trained as a bank clerk before moving to Hamburg to work as a business consultant.

[10 March 2023 17:05 · Eleanor Noyce]

What major shootings have taken place in Germany in recent years?

Following an attack at a Jehovah’s Witnesses worship hall in Hamburg, seven people including an unborn child have been pronounced dead.

Germany has strict gun laws, but unfortunately, it has not been immune to mass shootings in recent years.

Here is an overview:

-February 2020: A 43-year-old man murdered nine people in a right-wing extremist, racially-motivated attack in Hanau. He then shot his mother and himself.

-October 2019:  A gunman shot outside a German synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Two people were killed, with the attack live-streamed by the gunman.

-July 2016: An 18-year-old German-Iranian man killed nine people in a right-wing motivated attack at a shopping centre in Munich. Most of the victims were Muslim.

-March 2011: Two US soldiers were murdered in an Islamist-motivated attack at Frankfurt Airport. The event took place on a US Army bus.

-March 2009: A 17-year-old shot 15 people dead in Winnenden and Wendlingen in southwest Germany in a school. He went on the run and then killed himself.

-April 2002: A 19-year-old opened fire at a school in Erfurt. 17 people died, including the gunman.

Police officers guard with guns as they escort people near from inside the shopping centre as they respond to a shooting at the Olympia Einkaufzentrum (OEZ) at July 22, 2016 in Munich, Germany. (Getty)

[10 March 2023 17:35 · Eleanor Noyce]

How is gun ownership regulated in Germany?

Germany has strict gun laws, and considers weapon law a vital issue of public security.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community defines its security law as such:

“The 1976 Weapons Act was replaced effective 1 April 2003 by two new acts: the Weapons Act and the Act on the Proof Testing of Arms and Ammunition. It was last amended effective 25 November 2012. The Weapons Act safeguards public safety and order and regulates weapons and ammunition: who is allowed to acquire, possess and carry weapons and who is allowed to produce and sell them. The Act on the Proof Testing of Arms and Ammunition is intended to ensure that weapons and ammunition are safe to use.

The new law also increased the requirements for persons allowed to use weapons. Regulations on storing weapons were made stricter; certain weapons mainly used in violent crimes were banned; and the use of air guns and those shooting blanks was further regulated.

The Act on the Proof Testing of Arms and Ammunition covers product safety concerns, especially testing and approving firearms, ammunition and other weapons in order to protect their users and third persons when used in accordance with the law.”

[10 March 2023 18:04 · Thomas Kingsley]

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