Eight people die after shooting at Jehovah’s Witness center in Hamburg

First modification: 03/10/2023 – 14:10

The balance is already known. The German Police reported this Friday, March 10, eight deaths in the shooting that occurred the day before against a center of Jehovah’s Witnesses, including the perpetrator of the massacre.

The latter “shot at the participants” during a day of prayers organized on Thursday night by the community in its center in Hamburg, in the north of the country.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “speechless” over the shooting and that his thoughts were with the victims and their families.

“We fear that more victims may die from their serious injuries,” he said, thanking the security forces for their work.

More details provided by the Police

The German Police gave a press conference in which they detailed the events that occurred in the place. He reported that he had received an anonymous tip about the gunman, but had insufficient grounds to take action at the time.

The gunman, he said, was a 35-year-old German citizen who had been a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The gunman was legally allowed to possess a gun for sport and was in possession of a semi-automatic weapon. The man would have committed suicide.

The Hamburg state prosecutor added that the motive for the attack is still unknown. But terrorist or political causes were ruled out.

According to the magazine ‘Der Spiegel’, the alleged perpetrator fHe opened the entrance to the building where the prayer session was taking place, which was attended by about 50 people.

A “horrible attack” attack

Jehovah’s Witnesses declared in a statement that they were “shocked” by the “horrible attack” against some of their members, which occurred “after a religious service.”

Security forces were called “around 9:05 p.m. (local time) to reports of gunfire” at the three-story building used by the community in the Gross Borstel neighborhood, a police spokesman said.

“ANDThey very quickly entered the building and found dead and seriously injured there,” he added.

“A brutal act of violence”

Inside, officers also heard a shot “coming from the top of the building” and found another person, the spokesman continued. It was the shooter.

“There were about four different phases of filming,” testified a neighbor, Lara Bauch, in the newspaper ‘Bild’. “During each one we heard multiple shots, spaced 20 seconds to a minute apart,” she said.

“I kept looking out the window and saw the Jehovah’s Witnesses a person running at full speed from the ground floor to the first floor,” said this witness.

Local authorities issued an alert Thursday night to discourage residents from leaving their homes. They got her up overnight.

Heirs of primitive Christianity

Founded in the 19th century in the United States, Jehovah’s Witnesses consider themselves heirs of primitive Christianity and refer only to the Bible.

The organization’s status varies from country to country: legally they are considered equal to the “big” religions in Austria and Germany, which has just over 170,000 members of this faith, including 3,800 in Hamburg, according to the Witnesses website. .

The community headquarters in Germany is in Berlin.

In France, many of its local branches have the status of “cult association”, and this rigorous movement is regularly accused of sectarian aberrations.

This article was adapted from its original in French.