Deadly shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses in German left 8 killed

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – A shooting at a Jehovah’s Witnesses hall in the German city of Hamburg killed eight people, apparently including the perpetrator, police said Friday.

An unspecified number of other people were wounded, some of them seriously.

There was still no word on a possible motive for the shooting on Thursday evening that stunned Germany’s second-biggest city.

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

Police said during the night that they believe that there was only one shooter, and that that this could be a person who was found dead in the building.

Investigators worked through the night to secure evidence.

David Semonian, a U.S.-based spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, said in an emailed statement early Friday that members “worldwide grieve for the victims of this traumatic event.”