A mass shooting at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany, has left at least seven people dead and dozens of others injured, local police and media reports have confirmed.
Authorities also said that they believed the shooter was among the dead after finding a body among the carnage that fit the description of the killer—but added that the investigation remains ongoing and that there may have been more than one assailant involved in the massacre.
Hamburg police have not officially disclosed how many people were killed, but said in a statement: “According to initial findings, a shot was fired in a church on Deelböge street in the #GroßBorstel district. Several people were seriously injured, some even fatally. We are on site with a large contingent of forces.”
A second statement from the department said a motive for the slayings isn’t known yet. “The background is still completely unclear,” a spokesperson said.
The newspaper Bild reported that seven people had died and 25 others were injured, including eight who were seriously injured. A police spokesperson said that those killed had gunshot wounds.
Emergency alert systems warned residents to stay in their homes, FOCUS reported. Some messaging went as far to say, “Today at around 9 p.m. one or more perpetrators shot at people in a church.”
“The officers themselves also heard a shot coming from the upper floors of the building. They went upstairs and also found a body there,” police spokesperson Holger Vehren said immediately following the shooting.
Shocking footage captured by the BBC showed the moment heavily armed officers with assault rifles stormed the building and began clearing rooms, as well as the moments before officers set up a formal perimeter around the scene.
Hamburg’s mayor, Peter Tschentscher, called the attack “shocking” in his first public comments since gunfire erupted around 9 p.m.
“My deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” he wrote on Twitter. The emergency services are working to track down the perpetrator(s) and to clarify the background.”
Hamburg is Germany’s second-largest city, with nearly 2 million residents.
