HAMBURG. Seven people were killed on Thursday evening by a 35-year-old man in a prayer hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg before taking his own life.

The perpetrator was a member of the sect, a German citizen and used a nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol, which he legally acquired in December. Four men and two women were killed. In its report, the Hamburg prosecutor’s office also included an unborn child (7 months) of one of the victims in the list of dead. The mother is expected to survive.

Police raided the home of the attacker yesterday, trying to find out the motives for the attack, which are not considered political. 15 pistol magazines were found in the criminal’s apartment. On the website he ran, he presented himself as a “European-level” consultant in a variety of fields, from business administration to … theology, and charged his potential clients 250,000 euros per day plus 19% VAT. He explained that he takes an astronomical amount because he is sure that his advice will bring “at least 2.5 million euros” of wealth.

At the time of the militant’s attack, there were more than 50 people in the hall in the Alsterdorf district. When the police arrived at the scene, the offender fled to the second floor of the building, where he committed suicide. The representative of the prosecutor’s office praised the special forces of the police for the quick reaction, which prevented new bloodshed. “This is a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who left the sect a year and a half ago after a fight,” said Thomas Ratschweit, head of the Hamburg security forces.

Seven victims, including a 7-month-old unborn child, in an attack on a hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. – The criminal left the sect and owned weapons legally.

The Prayer Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg was located for decades in a quiet area north of the center. “I heard twelve shots in a row, and a little later I saw how the bodies were carried in black bags,” said a resident of the area. Bild writes that more than 100 shell casings were found at the scene.

Two months ago, the city-state police received an anonymous complaint about a perpetrator and his disturbing behavior. In an interview conducted by the police with a 35-year-old man, after buying ammunition he made, the officers felt that there was no reason to seize his weapon.

Germany has been the scene of massacres in the past. In February 2020, a far-right gunman killed ten people and wounded five in the central German city of Hanau, and in 2019 two people were killed while trying to stop a neo-Nazi gunman from storming a Jewish synagogue. About 175,000 Germans are members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect.