In Hamburg, Germany, a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall was the scene of a tragic shooting on Thursday night. According to authorities, they think the perpetrator acted alone.
At least six people have died and seven people have been hurt, according to sources, although authorities have not yet released an official death toll.
Around 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET), the incident in the northern German city happened. At first, police were unaware of the potential number of shooters.
According to police spokesman Holger Vehren, officers responded to reports of gunfire inside the building at around 21:15 (20:15 GMT).
Upon entering, the officers discovered individuals who “may have been gravely injured by firearms, some of them fatally,” the official said.
“The officers also heard a shot from the upper part of the building and went upstairs, where they also found a person. So far we have no indications that any perpetrators fled.”
However, later reports from the local police department indicated there was just one assailant, who might have passed away at the scene.
“At present, we believe there is one perpetrator,” Hamburg police wrote in their latest post on their Twitter account, hours after armed cops investigated the site for proof and culprits.
Around 21:00 (20:00 GMT), a warning about “one or more unknown culprits shooting at persons in a church” was posted on the official warning app NINAwarn. In view of the current police operation, neighbours in the area were advised not to leave their homes.
Video shows cops leading attendees out of the meeting space and some of them into ambulances.
Andy Grote, the interior minister for Hamburg, announced on Twitter that police special forces and numerous officers had been sent to the scene.
The public has been urged by police not to spread false information or make assumptions. The religious group that Jehovah’s Witnesses belong to is founded on Christianity.
Charles Taze Russell served as the denomination’s leader when it was established in the USA around the end of the 19th century. The movement’s main office is in New York.
