7 killed in attack against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg

The shooter entered the religious service in the city’s main Kingdom Hall. The attacker, who killed himself, was a former member of the group and had acquired the weapon legally.

A gunman entered the building of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg (Germany’s second largest city) in the evening of 9 March and killed 7 worshippers.

Among the victims, authorities said in a press conference on 10 March, was an unborn child in her mother’s womb. 8 more people were injured, 4 of them heavily. Another 20 were not harmed phisically.

The police, whose headquarters are only one kilometre of the religious group’s worship place, received a first alert at 9.15pm, and entered the three-story building, in the neighbourhood of Gross Borstel.

Officers helped evacuate people and said they did not use their fire arms despite hearing one shot while they were already in the building. Earlier, around 25 shots were heard, a witness on the street told the media.

The attacker, a man aged 35 who had acquired his gun licence as a sports marksman only in December last year, killed himself, the police said.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany said “our ministers are doing whatever is possible to support the families of the victims and those who witnessed first hand and are traumatised”. The faith community is “very affected by the terrible shooting”, they added.

The Interior Ministry is still conducting an urgent investigation.

The German Chancellor, Martin Scholz, condemned the “brutal act of violence” and said his “thoughts” were with the “victims and their families”. He also praised “the security forces who have faced a difficult operation”.

According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses own reports, there are about 170,000 members of this rleigious group in Germany.

Wir haben in einem Gemeindehaus in #GroßBorstel eine leblose Person aufgefunden, bei der wir davon ausgehen, dass es sich um einen Täter handeln könnte. Um die Beteiligung weiterer Täter auszuschließen, führen wir Überprüfungen durch & fahnden umfassend.#schießerei #hh0903

— Polizei Hamburg (@PolizeiHamburg) March 10, 2023