Philipp F. was the eighth person killed in the shootings that occurred shortly after 9:00 p.m. Thursday in hamburg. After killing seven people –among them, a fetus– in a Jehovah’s Witness church, the last shot was reserved for him. The alleged murderer had also been part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and there are no indications that he belonged to any type of extremist organization.
The Hamburg Police reported at a press conference this Friday that the reasons for the attack are unknown, although political intentions are ruled out and it is believed that suffered from “mental problems”.
During the shooting, which occurred in the middle of an act where “there were 50 people”, Philipp emptied nine clips from his semi-automatic pistol, which he legally owned. For this reason, yesor His name does appear in the police databases, as he had recently made a request for weapons permit.
“The attacker’s apartment was searched, among the objects found were 15 magazines with ammunition,” said the Hamburg prosecutor general. In the verification that was carried out to grant it, there was no record of criminal offences.
Philipp, 35 yearspresented himself as economic consultant on his website and curriculum vitae, although the veracity of this is distrusted, according to Der Spiegel. According to public information, Philipp grew up in an evangelical family in Kempten, Allgäu.
[Detenido Shawn Kemp, seis veces all-star en la NBA, tras disparar desde su coche a otro conductor]
He subsequently held “various internationally oriented management positions.” He also offered consulting services on matters ranging from “control” to “theology,” perhaps his two major interests. He calls attention to the fact that he charged astronomical fees: “As it is usually advisable to see things in a broader context, my minimum rate is 250,000 euros plus 19% VAT“, wrote.
To justify it, Philipp claimed that his work generated his clients “at least two and a half million euros”. “My fundamental values, the ones that I support and apply, are the integrity, trust and maximum performance“.
After several stays abroad, Philipp ended up arriving in Hamburg. For this reason, in addition to his past as a Jehovah’s Witness, it is believed that knew in detail the church where he committed the crime.
“We heard shots”
The images that German television has broadcast show dozens of police cars and firefighters blocking the streets and some people, wrapped in blankets, being led by the emergency services to a bus.
“We heard shots,” an unidentified witness told reporters. “There were 12 continuous shots“, he affirmed. “Then we saw how they took people away in black bags“. “Police activities in the surrounding area are being interrupted successively. Investigations into the motives for the crime continue,” police wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, the German news agency DPA, citing a reporter at the scene, said that residents in the Alsterdorf district in the north of the city, they had received warnings on their mobile phones of a “life-threatening situation” and that the streets had been cordoned off.
Hamburg’s mayor expressed shock at Thursday’s bloodshed. “I express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The forces are working at full speed to pursue the perpetrators and clarify the background“Peter Tschentscher said on Twitter before details were released.
This is the third high-magnitude shooting experienced by Germany in recent years. In February 2020, a gunman with suspected ties to the far-right fatally shot nine people, including migrants from Turkey, in the western city of Hanau before killing himself and his mother.
In October 2019, a gunman killed two people when he opened fire outside a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. “Nothing like this had ever happened in Hamburg.“said the German interior minister.
