Lee Heidhues 3.9.2023
Germany has been rocked by a mass shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness center in the port city of Hamburg.
Hamburg’s Mayor called the mass killing “shocking.”
This type violence is a rarity in Germany where there are strict gun control laws.
In America where guns are as easy to purchase as hamburgers random mass violence is all too common.
The New York Post 3.9.2023
At least six or seven people were killed and eight others were injured during a shooting inside a church in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday.
Hamburg police reported that shots were fired inside a Jehovah’s Witness center in the Gross Borstel district at around 9 p.m. local time, resulting in “several” fatalities.
German news sites reported that seven people were gunned down and eight others were wounded. Police officials said the gunman is likely among the dead found at the scene.
“There were about four periods of shooting,” student Laura Bauch told German news agency dpa. “There were always several shots in these periods, roughly at intervals of 20 seconds to a minute.
“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesman Holger Vehren said, without confirming an exact number of casualties.
Residents in the area received a shelter-in-place order amid the police investigation, while cops responded to the three-story building.
Officers who responded to the mass shooting found people with gunshot wounds on the ground floor and then heard the sound of a gun firing from a floor above. They discovered a person who had been fatally shot upstairs and believe that person may have been the shooter, Vehren said.
Investigators were still attempting to verify that the casualties were the work of a lone gunman, police officials said early Friday.
Nearby residents told local media they heard a barrage of gunshots and saw a person running from floor to floor during the shooting.
Gregor Miesbach, who can see the building from his home, said he heard at least 25 shots in an interview with the German news station NonstopNews.
He said he heard gunshots and then took out his phone and filmed a person entering the building through a window followed by the sound of gunfire. The figure briefly reappears in a courtyard on the property and then re-enters the building and more shots can be heard.
After police arrived on the scene, Miesbach said, he heard one last gunshot about five minutes later.
The mayor of Hamburg, Germany’s second-largest city, called the shooting “shocking” in a tweet.
“I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of the victims. The forces are working at full speed to pursue the perpetrators and clarify the background,” Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/09/six-killed-seven-injured-in-hamburg-germany-church-shooting/
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