An unborn is among the victims of the Jehovah’s Witness gun massacre in German after a former member killed seven people and left eight injured. The unborn baby died in Thursday’s attack but the mother survived.
A man known only as Philipp F has been identified as the culprit of the massacre by authorities, which took place in a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall in the German city of Hamburg.
He was a former member of the community who had “ill feelings” police have said.
The incident began shortly after 9 pm and police quickly responded with a major operation in the Gross Borstel district of the city. The man fired rounds through a window into the hall. He is said to have fired more than 100 bullets.
“I didn’t realize what was happening. I was filming with my phone, and only realized through the zoom that someone was shooting at Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Gregor Miesbach told Bild.
“I heard loud gunshots. I saw a man with a firearm shooting through a window and filmed it”.
Four men and two women were shot dead, police have said. A seven-month-old Foetus was directly hit while in the womb and perished. However, its mother managed to survive the attack.
All those killed were Germans. Eight people were injured. The BBC has reported that Philip F was a “sports shooter’ and had a gun licence. His body was found inside the building shortly after police arrived on the scene.
Police searched his unit and found 15 rounds of ammunition, reported The Sun. German police are said to have received a tip off about the gunman prior to the shooting but did not have enough grounds to take action and instead gave him a verbal warning.
Police say that the gunman was among the dead, but have not yet released any information about a possible motive for the attack. “We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” a spokesman said. “Later, police said that they had found a ‘lifeless person … who we believe could be a perpetrator. “Investigations were ongoing to rule out the involvement of any other people.”