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The suspected gunman who shot dead seven people at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg on Thursday night has been identified by German authorities on Friday.
Police say 35-year-old Philipp F was responsible for the massacre, with the gunman also taking his own life during the incident. Eight others were injured, including four seriously. A motive for the attack—described by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a “brutal act of violence”—remains unclear.
At a news conference on Friday, police confirmed that the shooter was a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and had “ill-feelings,” according to the BBC. All of those killed—including an unborn baby—were German nationals. The victims were men and women aged between 33 and 60, authorities said.
Investigators said the shooter was legally in possession of a semi-automatic pistol and that he had only acquired a gun license in December. Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said Phillip F had previously been investigated after authorities were tipped off that he might be unsuitable to own weapons due to an undiagnosed mental illness, but it was ultimately decided that he had not violated any rules. Over 100 rounds were fired during the assault.
Terrifying footage filmed during the attack appears to show the gunman firing at police from a window at the place of worship.
It’s thought that people had possibly gathered in the hall for a Bible study when the shooting started at around 9pm. Officers were called to the scene minutes later, where they discovered people who “may have been seriously injured by firearms, some of them fatally,” police spokesman Holger Vehren 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,” he added.
Hamburg’s state Interior Minister Andy Grote praised the fast actions of the emergency services. “We can assume that they saved many people’s lives this way,” he said at Friday’s news conference, adding that the slaughter was the “the worst crime that our city has experienced recently.”
According to Der Spiegel, Phillip F had styled himself as a business consultant on his website charging exorbitant fees to clients on the promise that he could make millions for his clients.
The suspect reportedly charged a minimum daily rate of “250,000 euros [$265,000] plus 19 percent VAT” for his services which he claimed would generate “at least 2.5 million euros [$2.6 million]” for clients.
The website also reportedly claims that Phillip F grew up in the town of Kempten in the Allgäu region of southern Germany in a strictly religious family. He later trained as a bank clerk before moving to Hamburg to work as a business consultant.
A separate report from German news magazine Focus alleges that the suspect wrote a strange e-book purportedly revealing the “truth about Jesus Christ, God, and Satan.” His website also reportedly discussed a “cure for worries” and argued there is “no reason to worry about the future.”
In a statement, the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany said: “The religious community is deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service.”
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