Yahoo News Hamburg shooting: Video seemingly shows moment gunman opens fire on Jehovah's Witness centre
Seven people were killed in the attack and dozens more injured after shots were fired through an open window
Video taken by an eyewitness appears to show the moment a gunman opened fire on a Jehovah's Witness centre in Hamburg, killing seven people and injuring dozens of others.
The footage, which looks as though it was filmed from a building further down the road from the Kingdom Hall in the Gross Borstel district, shows someone moving around outside an open window before appearing to shoot through it into the building
“According to initial findings, shots were fired in a church on Deelbögestrasse in the GrossBorstel district,” police said in a statement. “Several people were seriously injured, some fatally. We are on-site with a large contingent of officers.”
Hamburg shooting: Latest updates
Jehovah’s Witness mass shooter in Hamburg named as Philipp Fusz (Telegraph)
Unborn baby among those killed at Jehovah's Witness building (Sky News)
Hamburg police were tipped off about gunman, but did not take his weapon (The Guardian)
Several killed and others injured after shooting at church in Hamburg (The Independent)
As shots were fired, the person filming the video can be heard yelling out and continued filming the scene as police arrived at around 9.15pm on Thursday.
"I swear that’s shooting," the man filming can be heard to say, German translator Sean Williams told Yahoo News. "Yeah, what’s going down…that guy at the window…the shooting’s going on inside somehow."
A number of police vehicles pulled up at the scene shortly after the attack took place, with footage showing a huge response to the incident as sirens can be heard coming from all directions.
As authorities arrived on the scene, the man filming added: "They’re storming the inside now, from the bus stop - yeah that’s proper shooting."
Police spokesman Holger Vehren said officers had arrived on the scene shortly after being alerted to the attack and found gunshot victims inside the building. They then heard a single shot fired upstairs and found one person deceased, who they believe to have been the gunman.
Police later said on social media that they believe the alleged gunman had died at the scene.
“We found a lifeless person in a community centre 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,” Hamburg police department said in a tweet.
According to Spiegel magazine, the gunman was a former member of the Jehovah's Witness community, and is not thought to have been previously known to police.
