Gunman Kills 7 in Jehovah's Witnesses Hall

Hamburg officials say they don't think the gunman is at large
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2023 7:22 PM CST
German Police Report Slayings in Jehovah's Witnesses Hall
Police officers gather outside a building in Hamburg, Germany, where a shooting took place Thursday night.   (Jonas Walzberg/dpa via AP)

Seven people were killed—including an unborn baby—and others were seriously injured in a shooting Thursday night at a Jehovah's Witnesses hall in the German city of Hamburg, police said. The gunman later took his own life in the building, officials said. "We have no indication that a shooter is at large," a police spokesman told reporters outside Kingdom Hall, per the Wall Street Journal. Still, a large number of officers spread out in the area, after being called about 9pm, while explosives experts searched the building. One official said special forces have been deployed, per Axios.

People in the area were warned of "extreme danger," and officials asked drivers to avoid the area and anyone inside to stay where they were. Nearby streets were closed. "Our measures and investigations are running at full speed," Hamburg police tweeted. They reported having "no reliable information on the motive" for the attack so far, per the BBC. Officers found wounded people on the bottom floor when they arrived, the police spokesman said, then heard a gunshot from above. They then found someone shot to death upstairs who police said was probably the gunman, the AP reports. Police did not fire their weapons, the spokesman said. (More mass shootings stories.)

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