Seven people are killed in a deadly shooting at a Jehovah's Witness centre in Hamburg, and police have issued an extreme danger warning.
Authorities Issue "Extreme Risk" Warning After German Church Shooting That Leaves 7 Dead
A catastrophe warning app had issued a warning for
"high danger" in the area before to the German church massacre.
Authorities Issue "Extreme Risk" Warning After Hamburg Church Massacre That Leaves Seven Dead
Berlin, Germany - On Thursday night, a shooting at a
Jehovah's Witness facility in Hamburg tragically resulted in several fatalities
and numerous critical injuries. German police said they suspect the shooter is
among the victims.
Local media sites stated that seven people were murdered
and eight others suffered critical injuries in the event, despite the fact that
the authorities have not released a death toll. At about 2015 GMT, the first
emergency calls were sent after hearing gunshots at the building in the city's
Gross Borstel neighborhood.
A disaster warning app had sounded the alert for
"severe risk" in the region, and authorities advised locals to stay
indoors. Police have asked the public to refrain from speculating on the
shooting's motivation because it is yet unknown.
"Many persons were critically hurt, some even fatally,"
the Hamburg police tweeted in reference to the tragedy. The mayor of the port
city, Peter Tschentscher, expressed horror at the shooting on Twitter and
conveyed his condolences to the relatives of the victims, adding that emergency
services were doing all possible to make things clear.
The three-story building where the shooting happened was
hosting a gathering on Thursday night, according to the police. According to
the neighborhood newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt, Jehovah's Witnesses had
assembled for their weekly Bible study.
Several dead bodies and badly injured persons were
discovered by the police at the location. According to the Hamburger
Abendblatt, the fire department was taking care of 17 attendees who were
unharmed.
Police added that after hearing a shot in the "higher
portion of the building," they went to the scene and discovered a dead.
Police have "indications that a perpetrator may have been in the building
and may even be among the deceased," according to a spokeswoman for the
force. He went on to say that the offender was "probably" the guy who
was found in the top portion of the structure.
Recent years have seen a number of assaults in Germany,
both by far-right extremists and Islamists. 12 people were killed in a vehicle
rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016—one of the bloodiest acts
by Islamic extremists. The Tunisian attacker was an ISIS enthusiast and an
unsuccessful asylum applicant.
According to data from the interior ministry, the number
of Islamists deemed dangerous in the nation increased by five to 615 between
2013 and 2021. The government has been accused of not doing enough to combat
neo-Nazi violence after a number of far-right attacks on Germany in recent
years.
In the central German city of Hanau in February 2020, a
far-right fanatic shot and killed 10 people while injuring five more. And on
the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 2019, two people died when a neo-Nazi
attempted to attack a synagogue in Halle.
The tragedy in Hamburg serves as a sobering reminder of
the rising threat that violent extremism poses, as well as the necessity for
more attention and action to stop such sad events from happening in the future.
