Seven killed in shooting at Hamburg Jehovah’s Witness hall
At least seven people have been killed and dozens were injured after a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the northern German city of Hamburg, local media have reported, citing police and emergency services.
According to the Guardian, Police have said that the gunman was believed to be among the dead, and that a motive was as yet unclear.
“We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” a spokesperson said soon after the attack. Later, police said that they had found a “lifeless person … who we believe could be a perpetrator”. Investigations were ongoing to rule out the involvement of any other people, police said.
Seven people had died and 25 were injured – eight of them seriously – in the shooting, Bild newspaper reported, which it said began at the Jehovah’s Witness centre soon after 9pm.
As news of the shooting emerged, Hamburg Police said that a major police operation was underway in the GrossBorstel district of the city. Several streets were sealed off and the public was warned by text message to avoid the area. Local residents were told to stay indoors and only to use their phones “in extreme emergency” so as not to overburden the network.
