7 killed in attack against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg

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.

Nach aktuellem Sachstand gehen wir von einem Täter aus. Die polizeilichen Maßnahmen im Umfeld werden sukzessive eingestellt. Die Ermittlungen zu den Hintergründen der Tat dauern an. #GroßBorstel #schießerei #hh0903

— Polizei Hamburg (@PolizeiHamburg) March 10, 2023

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.

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