At least eight people were killed in a brutal shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Assembly Hall in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday evening, police authorities said on Friday.
At the time of filing this report, the police were searching for the motive behind the shooting, as the gunman was believed to be among the dead.
According to a report by The Bild newspaper, eight people were also wounded in the shooting in the northern city, which is home to Germany’s biggest port.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, on its part, said several of the wounded were seriously hurt.
However, no details of the suspected killer have been released.
“Bad news from Hamburg,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on Twitter early on Friday, calling the attack “a brutal act of violence”.
He said his thoughts were with the victims, their families, and the security forces, who he said “have been through a difficult deployment” since the shooting at around 9pm (2000 GMT).
Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, said on Twitter that the authorities were working urgently to investigate the crime.
Germany has some of the most stringent rules around gun control in Europe and the Interior Minister said, late last year, the government planned to tighten gun laws after a suspected plot by a far-right group to violently overthrow the state.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses said in a statement on their website that the religious community was “deeply affected by the horrific attack on its members of the faith in a Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a service”.
The Group expressed sympathy for the victims, families “and the traumatized eyewitnesses”. Ministers were “doing their best to support them in this difficult hour. We pray for all those affected and wish them the power of the God of all comfort”.
Police established an internet portal for people to upload photos and videos “of the crime or relevant events”.
