The gunman who shot dead seven people at a Jehovah’s Witnesses centre in the German city of Hamburg killed himself after police stormed the building, Hamburg’s regional interior minister has said, adding that a pregnant woman was among the victims.
The attacker fled to the first floor of the building after police burst in “and killed himself”, said Andy Grote, adding that the rapid police deployment likely “saved many lives”.
A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those killed, he added.
The head of Germany’s GdP police union in Hamburg, Horst Niens, says he is convinced that the swift arrival of a special operations unit “distracted the perpetrator and may have prevented further victims”.
Officers apparently reached the hall while the attack was ongoing and heard one more shot after they arrived, according to witnesses and authorities.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses community in Germany has expressed deep sadness over an “horrific” deadly shooting in Hamburg that it said targeted its members.
“The religious community is deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany association said in a statement.
“Several members of a Jehovah community fell victim to a brutal act of violence last night,” Scholz tweeted. “My thoughts are with them and their loved ones.”
