Seven dead and eight injured, according to Bild, in Hamburg. Around 9 pm, numerous shots were fired in a Kingdom Hall, a place of worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in the Alsterdorf district, as reported by the online edition of the newspaper. According to Bild, the police found the seventh body on the upper floor of the building after the security forces who intervened in the church heard an isolated shot. “It can be assumed” that it is the killer and “there are no indications of an attacker on the run” explained the police spokesman, although at the moment there is still no certainty. Meanwhile “the situation has calmed down”, he added, underlining that the police did not fire any shots.
The police, who cordoned off the area and warned citizens of a situation of ‘extreme danger’, inviting them to avoid the area, have meanwhile specified that all the victims show signs of gunshot wounds. The man who fired hit himself during a religious ceremony, Hamburg police sources report. “The first call came at 21.15,” a spokesman told Bild. “When the first agents arrived at the scene, they heard a shot”, adds the spokesman.
“So far there is no reliable information about the motive” of the shooting, adds the Hamburg police in a tweet, which also invites citizens “not to share unverified hypotheses and / or spread rumors”.
“The reports from Alsterdorf are shocking. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims. The emergency services are working hard to trace the perpetrators and clarify the background”, the words of the mayor of Hamburg Peter Tschentscher on the social network.
Special forces were used in the security operation. The Hamburg police intervened in the area “with a large contingent, including special forces, to ensure security and to quickly and completely clarify the detailed circumstances of the crime,” Senator Andy Grote wrote on Twitter.
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