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Weeks earlier than he opened fireplace on his former congregation at a Jehovah’s Witness corridor in northern Germany, the authorities had checked on the gunman however decided that they didn’t have the grounds to grab his weapons, officers mentioned on Friday.
The gunman killed six individuals, together with a pregnant girl, earlier than turning his weapon on himself as police stormed the constructing in Hamburg on Thursday in what the authorities known as “the worst such mass taking pictures incident of this dimension” to have an effect on town.
In step with German privateness legal guidelines, the police recognized the gunman solely as Philip F., a 35-year-old German who, based on the authorities, had been a member of the congregation up till a yr and a half in the past, “however apparently didn’t go away on good phrases,” mentioned Thomas Radszuweit, the top of state safety in Hamburg.
Mass shootings are extraordinarily uncommon in Germany, the place rules restrict who can personal a weapon and make coaching and testing obligatory earlier than a gun may be bought. Absolutely computerized weapons are thought of “weapons of battle” and are unlawful.
In January, the authorities chargeable for weapons management acquired a letter saying that Philip F. “harbored a particular rage in opposition to members of non secular teams, particularly the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Mr. Radszuweit mentioned.
A number of weeks after receiving the letter, the police despatched an unannounced crew to Philip F.’s residence to examine whether or not he was securing his weapons and ammunition in a secure, as required by legislation, and to talk with him.
They mentioned that he had been open and cooperative and, except for one stray bullet exterior the secure, that all the things was so as. They gave him a verbal warning.
The legislation in Germany additionally limits the authorities’ capability to take steps to take away weapons from an proprietor who’s licensed to own them. Within the case of Philip F., as a result of the letter was written anonymously and supplied no proof, there was little the authorities might do, officers mentioned.
Andy Grote, senator of the inside for the city-state of Hamburg, described the assault on Thursday as “the worst crime within the current historical past of our metropolis.” In addition to the six individuals killed, eight others have been wounded. “It’s a horrific act — and it’s a horrifying act,” Mr. Grote mentioned.
Cops responding to the primary emergency calls entered the Jehovah’s Witness corridor as they heard photographs ringing out from inside, the authorities mentioned at a information convention on Friday. They discovered injured individuals on the bottom and noticed a person with a gun run to an higher ground of the constructing.
A particular unit then arrived and remoted the gunman, an method that prevented others among the many roughly 50 individuals gathered within the constructing from being killed, mentioned Matthias Tresp, the chief of particular police in Hamburg.
“The fast motion saved the lives of many individuals,” Mr. Tresp mentioned. 4 males and two ladies have been killed within the assault. One of many ladies was pregnant, and her 7-month-old fetus additionally died, the authorities mentioned.
The gunman was armed with a semiautomatic handgun, one of many weapons that he was legally allowed to personal. The gun was discovered subsequent to his physique, the authorities mentioned.
9 empty magazines, every able to holding as much as 15 rounds, have been discovered on the scene, together with a backpack stuffed with 20 extra magazines, Mr. Radszuweit mentioned. One other two magazines have been discovered on the gunman’s physique. Philip F. obtained his gun license in 2022 and had legally acquired his weapon, the authorities mentioned.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a denomination based in the US within the nineteenth century, has been lively in Germany since 1902. They make up a comparatively small spiritual group of about 175,000 adherents in Germany, which is residence to almost 900 devoted “kingdom halls,” because the group calls its locations of worship.
Persecuted by the Nazis and punctiliously watched by the Communist secret police within the former East Germany, the group struggled for many years to be given equal standing to Germany’s different spiritual communities. That was granted starting in Berlin in 2005.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who beforehand served as mayor of Hamburg, and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier have been amongst those that supplied their condolences within the wake of the taking pictures on Thursday.
In a press release, the Jehovah’s Witnesses group in Germany mentioned, “The spiritual group is deeply saddened by the horrific assault on its members in a kingdom corridor in Hamburg after a church service.”
The primary calls concerning the taking pictures have been made to the police at 9:15 p.m. Residents within the space, a usually quiet neighborhood in northern Hamburg, mentioned that they’d been shocked to listen to photographs ringing out from the constructing the place the spiritual group met.
“I beginning filming with my cellphone, and thru the zoom, I might decide that somebody was taking pictures,” Gregor Miebach, a pupil who lives throughout from the corridor, advised the German channel N-TV. “There have been a minimum of 25 photographs that I heard.”
The particular police unit that responded occurred to be within the space and arrived inside minutes, the authorities mentioned, with officers then working their method up by means of its three flooring.
“After the police arrived, there have been no photographs for some time,” Mr. Miebach mentioned. “After about 5 minutes, there was one single shot.”
Though uncommon, taking pictures rampages have grow to be extra frequent in Germany over the previous decade. Three years in the past, a 43-year-old German posted a racist video and screed on the web earlier than driving to bars and golf equipment frequented by younger individuals from Turkish and Kurdish households which have lived in Germany for generations and opening fireplace, killing 9.
The gunman in that case had additionally acquired his weapon legally.
A yr earlier, a 28-year-old far-right extremist failed in his try and storm a synagogue within the jap metropolis of Halle on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, killing two bystanders as a substitute. He was not allowed to personal firearms, however had made his weapons utilizing a 3-D printer that the authorities present in his residence.
In Germany, hunters, goal shooters and individuals who can show that they’re underneath risk can apply for a gun license. Each medical and felony historical past is taken under consideration earlier than such licenses are granted.
In December, the German police raided the properties of a community of far-right extremists who the authorities mentioned had plans to overthrow the federal government. After that, the German inside minister, Nancy Faeser, mentioned that she would search to tighten legal guidelines to make it tougher to amass computerized weapons. There was no fast proof to counsel the far proper was concerned within the assault on Thursday night time.
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