The alleged perpetrator of Hamburg was a former member of the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The 35-year-old German Philipp F. left it voluntarily one and a half years ago, but obviously not in a good way. This was announced by the police, the public prosecutor's office and the interior authority on Friday in Hamburg at a press conference.
Othmara Glass
Volunteer
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In the rampage on Thursday evening, the alleged perpetrator killed six people, including a pregnant woman with gunshots. Eight people were injured, four of them seriously. After the police broke into the building where the crime took place, the perpetrator apparently panicked and killed himself. At the present time, according to state security, a terrorist background can be ruled out, as well as the existence of a second perpetrator.
F. had entered the building of the municipality in Hamburg Alsterdorf around 21 o'clock, in which he forcibly gained access, the authorities said. Previously, he had fired at least ten shots at a woman in a car in the parking lot in front of the house. At the time of the crime, a community meeting with about 50 people was taking place on the ground floor of the three-storey building.
At 21.04 o'clock there were, therefore, the first emergency calls to the police and fire brigade, which reported shots in the building of Jehovah's Witnesses. Four minutes later, according to Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD), the first forces were on site, including the special unit USE, which was set up just a few months ago and happened to be on patrol near the crime scene.
At 21:11 p.m., the forces gained access to the building by smashing the window of a door. After the penetration of the officers, the perpetrator fled with his weapon to the 1st floor, where he killed himself.
The perpetrator was a registered sports shooter, had a gun license for a Heckler and Koch P30. During the rampage, he fired, according to police, nine magazines with 15 rounds each. He wore two more magazines on his body, twenty of which he still had in his backpack. "We owe it most likely to the very, very quick and decisive intervention of the police forces that there are no more victims to mourn here," said Interior Senator Grote. A shooting spree of this dimension has not been known in Hamburg so far. "This is the worst crime in the recent history of our city:"
In February, the weapons authority had investigated an anonymous tip-off, according to which Philipp F. had mental health problems. He harbored a special anger at followers of religions, especially Jehovah's Witnesses, it said. During the control a few weeks ago in February in F.'s apartment in Altona, however, he had shown himself to be cooperative, according to police chief Martin Meyer, there was no reason to secure the weapon.