Deadly shooting at Hamburg Jehovah’s Witness hall
BBC reported that a number of people have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall in the north German city of Hamburg.
Police say a gunman is believed to be dead. It is unclear if the attacker is among six or seven fatalities reported by German media. The shooting took place on Deelböge street in the city’s Gross Borstel district.
A police spokesman said investigators had “indications that a perpetrator may have been in the building and may be even among the dead”. “We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” he said. “The officers themselves also heard a shot coming from the upper floors of the building,” the spokesman added. “They went upstairs and also found a body there.”
An alert was sent on the federal warning app, NINAwarn, at around 21:00 (20:00 GMT) telling locals that “one or more unknown perpetrators shot at people in a church”. Residents nearby were told not to leave their homes amid the ongoing police operation.
Footage showed police escorting people out of the meeting hall, some to ambulances.
Hamburg’s Interior Minister, Andy Grote, said on Twitter that police special forces and a large number of officers had been deployed to the scene.
Police have appealed to the public not to share assumptions or to spread rumours.
