Suspect identified in Jehovah's Witnesses hall shooting that killed 6 people in Germany

The suspect accused of fatally shooting six people during a church service at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in Hamburg, Germany, was identified Friday as a former member of the congregation.

Officials identified the gunman only as Philipp F., a 35-year-old German national, in line with German privacy rules.

Police said the gunman killed himself Thursday night before police arrived. Eight people were wounded, including a woman who was 28 weeks pregnant — the baby did not survive.  Four of them were seriously injured.

The gunman fired more than 100 rounds during the shooting, police said.

The suspect legally owned a semi-automatic pistol with a weapons license, said Hamburg police Chief Ralf Martin Meyer. He had been previously investigated after authorities got a tip that he might not be suitable to own a gun. But he was found not to have broken any rules, Meyer said.

PREVIOUS REPORTS:Investigation ongoing in Jehovah’s Witnesses hall shooting, German police say

MASS KILLINGS DATABASE:Revealing trends, details and anguish of every US event since 2006

Hamburg police respond to shooting at Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall

Hamburg police received the first emergency call reporting the shooting at about 9:04 p.m. Thursday, and a special operations unit nearby reached the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall minutes later, Hamburg’s state Interior Minister Andy Grote said Friday.

The hall was located in the Gross Borstel district in northern Germany, a few miles north of the downtown area of Hamburg, the country's second-biggest city.

'WE'VE SLIPPED INTO FORGETFULNESS':Charleston church shooting survivors demand gun control

Officers arriving at the scene found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor before hearing a gunshot from an upper floor, police spokesman Holger Vehren said. There, they found a fatally wounded person they believed to be the shooter.

Police did not have to use their guns, Vehren said.

Footage showed a large police presence Thursday night outside the three-story congregation hall. Friday morning, forensic investigators in protective white suits were outside the building.

Police search for motive behind Hamburg shooting

Police are still searching for a motive in the shooting, but prosecutors said there was no evidence of a terrorist link. Authorities believe there was only one gunman.

Police said the suspect left the congregation about a year and a half ago "voluntarily, but apparently not on good terms."

Officers visited the man in January after receiving an anonymous tip claiming he "bore particular anger toward religious believers, in particular toward Jehovah's Witnesses and his former employer," said Meyer. But he said officers found no grounds to take away his gun.

"The investigation into the motive behind the crime continues," police said Friday.

WHAT IS A MASS SHOOTING?:There's no consensus definition, but here's what you should know

What are Jehovah's Witnesses?

Local Jehovah's Witnesses congregation elders are providing pastoral care for those affected by the shooting, said David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, in a Friday statement. He said members "worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event."

There are about 8.7 million members worldwide of the international church, which was founded in the U.S. and is headquartered in New York. About 170,000 members live in Germany.

Jehovah's Witnesses are an evangelical Christian denomination known for knocking on doors and distributing religious information in public areas. The denomination’s practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government.

US GUN VIOLENCE:Three days. 10 mass shootings. More than 50 victims. US sees worst weekend of 2023.

German chancellor, Hamburg mayor respond

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described the shooting as "a brutal act of violence."

"We are speechless in view of this violence," Scholz said at a Friday event in Munich. "We are mourning those whose lives were taken so brutally."

Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher called the news was "shocking" and offered condolences to the victims' families.

The victims were German citizens, other than two wounded women, one with Ugandan citizenship and one with Ukrainian citizenship.

Shooting shines light on Germany's gun laws

While Germany's gun laws are more restrictive than those in the U.S., they are more permissive compared to some European neighbors.

Grote, Hamburg’s state Interior Minister, called the shooting "the worst crime that our city has experienced recently." But shootings are not unheard of in the country.

• A man opened fire at a Heidelberg University lecture hall in southwestern Germany last year, killing one person and wounding three others before killing himself.
• In January 2020, a man fatally shot six people and wounded two others in southwestern Germany.
• In February 2020, a gunman killed nine people near Frankfurt after posting a racist rant online.
• In October 2019, a far-right extremist fatally shot two people when he tried and failed to force his way into a a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. This was the last shooting involving a site of worship in Germany.

The German government announced plans last year to tighten background checks and crack down on gun ownership by suspected extremists.

GUN ACCESS IN US:As nation reels from Michigan State shooting, courts wrestle with access to guns

Contributing: The Associated Press

Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.