Shooting at Jehovah's Witness church in Hamburg in Germany leaves many killed

Jehovah's Witness church: Several people died and scores of others were injured in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness church in Hamburg in Germany. The shooting took place inside a modern and boxy three-story building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg on Thursday evening. The building is located next door to an auto repair shop.

“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesman Holger Vehren said. The cgurch is located in the Gross Borstel district of Germany’s second-biggest city.

However, media reports said six or seven people died in the shooting.

Vehren said police received information about the shooting about 9:15 p.m. and rushed to the site. They found injured people on the ground floor and also heard gun shots from an upper floor. They also found a fatally wounded person upstairs. He may have been the shooter, Vehren said.

Witnesses say they heard gunshots

Laura Bauch, a student who lives nearby, said she heard at least “four periods of shooting.”  She said she saw from her window one person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses hall.

Gregor Miesbach, who also lives nearby, filmed a figure entering the building through a window. In the film shots can be heard from inside. The figure later apparently emerges from the hall, is seen in the courtyard and then fires more shots inside. Gregor told the media he heard at least 25 shots. After police arrived, one last shot followed about five minutes later, he said.

Police had no immediate information on a possible motive. Vehren said that “the background is still completely unclear.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses founded in US

Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.

Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s distinctive practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government.

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