City
Epaper

Church shooting in Germany's Hamburg leaves several dead

By Lokmat English Desk | Published: March 10, 2023 9:58 AM

Several people were killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church in the northern German city of Hamburg ...

Open in App

Several people were killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church in the northern German city of Hamburg on Thursday, with the motive for the attack unclear, police said. A perpetrator may be among the dead, police said. Several people were seriously injured, police said, declining to say how many died. "We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals," police spokesman Holger Vehren said of the shooting in the Gross Borstel district of Germany's second-biggest city. He said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded. Police did not confirm German media reports, which named no sources, of six or seven dead. The scene of the shooting was the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall, a modern and boxy three-story building next door to an auto repair shop. 

Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting about 9.15 pm local time and were on the scene quickly.He said that after officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person upstairs who may have been a shooter. He said police did not have to use their firearms. Vehren said there was no indication that a shooter was on the run and that it appeared likely that the perpetrator was either in the building or among the dead.Police said in the early hours Friday that they were still working to verify that no further perpetrators were involved. Student Laura Bauch, who lives nearby, said "there were about four periods of shooting," German news agency dpa reported. "There were always several shots in these periods, roughly at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute," she said. She said she looked out her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah's Witnesses hall. Gregor Miesbach, who lives within sight of the building, was alerted by the sound of shots and filmed a figure entering the building through a window. Shots can then be heard from inside. The figure later apparently emerges from the hall, is seen in the courtyard and then fires more shots inside. Miesbach told German television news agency Nonstop News that he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one last shot followed about five minutes later, he said. Police had no information on the event that was under way in the building when the shooting took place. They also had no immediate information on a possible motive. Vehren said that "the background is still completely unclear. "Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted that the news was "shocking" and offered his sympathy to the victims' relatives. Jehovah's Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany. 

Tags: Germany Church shooting
Open in App

International Realted Stories

InternationalIraqi parliament elects new Speaker after nearly yearlong vacuum

InternationalUN chief emphasises role of youth in driving climate action, shaping urban futures

InternationalSeven killed in Israel after Hezbollah targets Metula, Haifa

InternationalTrump vows to protect Hindu Americans from radical left; strengthen ties with India

InternationalAt least 158 killed in Spain's flash floods