Seven reported killed in attack at church in Germany – as it happened

We’re ending our live coverage of the attack. You can read our full report of what happened tonight in Hamburg below:

Here is what we know about tonight’s shooting in Hamburg, Germany:

• Shortly after 9pm police were alerted to a shooting inside a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the northern German city of Hamburg. Seven people were killed and 25 injured, some seriously, police said.

• Police said the gunman was believed to be among the dead. “We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” a spokesperson said soon after the attack. 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 further perpetrators, police said.

• A special police unit happened to be driving past the centre when they heard shots being fired, local media outlets reported. The USE taskforce officers were on their way to their accommodation at the police headquarters in Alsterdorf when they stopped to investigate the attack, entering the building and evacuating people.

• The Hamburg police say that there is currently “no reliable information about the motive for the crime”. The police said on a Twitter post, “So far, there is no reliable information on the motive for the crime. We ask that you do not share unsecured assumptions and/or spread rumours.”

• Police alerted people to an “extreme danger” in the area using a catastrophe warning app. Residents must stay indoors and avoid the area, police said, adding that streets surrounding the church have been cordoned off.

• Hamburg’s mayor, Peter Tschentscher, has responded to the attack, calling it “shocking”. “The reports from Alsterdorf / Groß Borstel are shocking. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” he said.

175,000 people in Germany, including 3,800 in Hamburg, are Jehovah’s Witnesses, AFP reports. The Christian movement set up in the US in the late 19th century preaches non-violence and is known for door-to-door evangelism.

We now know a little more about the chronology of tonight’s events.

Police received a call soon after 9pm local time, a spokesperson said. Officers quickly arrived at the scene to find several people seriously injured and some dead.

“Then they heard a shot from above, they went upstairs and found one further person,” the spokesperson said.

A bomb squad was sent to the scene as part of a routine precaution, Tagesschau reported. A forensics team has also arrived.

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View image in fullscreen

A dead person was found at the centre and “could be a perpetrator”, Hamburg Police have just said.

“We found a lifeless person in the community center in #GroßBorstel who we believe could be a perpetrator. In order to rule out the involvement of other perpetrators, we carry out checks and search extensively,” the police said on Twitter.

Here is our video report of tonight’s shooting in Hamburg:

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Welt is also reporting that a special police unit happened to be passing the Jehovah’s Witness centre when the shooting was happening.

“Police officers happened to be near the crime scene because they were on their way back to their accommodation at the police headquarters in Alsterdorf, as WELT learned. The task forces were the special unit USE, which stands for support patrols for special situations. This unit is only available nationwide from the Hamburg police and was created in 2020 precisely for such situation reports. The model was a similar force from the Vienna police, which had supported the Hamburg police at the G-20 summit in summer 2017.”

Here is what another witness at the scene saw, via local media:

“It was about four firing periods. During these periods, several shots were always fired, approximately 20 seconds to one minute apart,” said Lara Bauch, 23.

“I then looked further out of the window and saw a person running hectically from the ground floor to the first floor at the Jehovah’s Witnesses.” People were later carried by police officers on to the street on their hands and feet.

She said that the services at the centre have “always been very well attended” and that the crowd was a mix of “families, older people, younger people”.

Here is some more footage of emergency workers and police at the scene:

Bild has spoken to two witnesses who say they both heard twelve shots fired at the scene.

“We heard shots,” one man said. “There were 12 continuous shots.”