The main suspect in Thursday night’s shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness church in Hamburg has been identified as a former member of the religious group and they have ruled out that his attack, which has left seven victims dead — among whom police count a seven-month-old fetus — was not terrorist-motivated.
The suspect, who was also found dead, was Philipp F., 25, who had lived in Hamburg since 2015. He had a gun license as a sport shooter and fired dozens of shots inside the center, where there were about 50 people, according to the NTV channel.
The authorities are not aware of any suspicions against him for possible extremism, nor is there in fact any criminal record, police officials explained at a press conference in which they tried to shed some more light on the case.
The head of the Hamburg Interior Department, Andy Grote, confirmed that a total of eight people between the ages of 33 and 60 – including the alleged shooter and the fetus – were killed and eight injured. Grote warned that he had never before seen an attack of this magnitude in the German city, where part of the security deployment around the scene is still in place.
He also wanted to take the opportunity to applaud the work of the security forces, since with their »quick and decisive» action »very probably» they managed to save lives, reports the DPA agency.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
