*This report was updated this Friday (10) at 10:00 am
The man who shot dead seven people at a Jehovah's Witness center in Hamburg and then committed suicide was a former member of this community, with which he was in conflict, German police said this Friday (10).
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“Philipp F. was a former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” a police commander told the press. According to the source, the shooter had left the community 18 months ago, “apparently not on good terms.”
Understand the attack
According to the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, Jehovah's witnesses were there for about two hours before the attack for a weekly meeting dedicated to Bible study.
Minutes after the attack, still without necessary information, local police asked surrounding residents to avoid the danger zone. “Stay where you are and don’t leave for now,” asked the federal civil defense office in a statement.
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“The news coming from Alsterdorf/Gross Borstel is disturbing,” the city's mayor, Social Democrat Peter Tschentscher, said on Twitter.
Meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses
Law enforcement “received calls at around 21:15 pm [17:15 pm Brasília time] to be informed of shots being fired at the three-story building,” located in the Gross Borstel neighborhood, in the north of Hamburg, a police spokesperson told the broadcaster. NTV.
The intervention forces “quickly entered the building and found dead and seriously injured people”, added the spokesperson.
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Inside the building, the agents heard a shot “coming from the upper part of the property” and found another person, according to the spokesperson, who “still” could not give “indications” about the motivation for the crime.
This Friday (10), it was possible to confirm the suicide of the shooter.
What are Jehovah's Witnesses?
Founded in the 19th century in the United States, Jehovah's Witnesses consider themselves heirs of primitive Christianity and base their creed solely on the Bible.
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The status of the organization varies depending on the country: they are on the same level as the “great” religions in Austria and Germany, they appear as a “recognized cult” in Denmark and as a “religious denomination” in Italy.
In France, several local branches have the status of “cult association”, but the movement is regularly accused of being sectarian.
Extremist double threat
German authorities are on alert for a double threat in the country: jihadism and the extreme right.
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Germany has already been the target of jihadist attacks, in particular a vehicle attack that caused 12 deaths in December 2016 in Berlin, which was claimed by the Islamic State. This was the most lethal jihadist action ever committed in the country.
Since 2013 and until the end of 2021, the number of Islamists considered dangerous with a presence in Germany has multiplied by five and is currently 615, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The number of Salafis is estimated at 11.000, that is, twice as many as in 2013.
However, another recurring threat in Germany in recent years is posed by the far right, with deadly attacks on community and religious centers.
In a racist attack in Hanau, near Frankfurt (west), a German involved in conspiracy movements killed nine young people, all of them of foreign origin, in February 2020.
(With AFP)
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