Alarm For ‘Extreme Danger’ In Germany After Shooting Leaves Several Dead

New Delhi: Several people have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in Hamburg, Germany, with the gunman believed to be among the dead, German police said Thursday. Police have not given a death count, but multiple local media outlets reported that the shooting had left seven dead and eight seriously injured, news agency AFP reported.

The first emergency calls were made around 2015 GMT after shots rang out at the building in the city’s northern district of Gross Borstel. Police tweeted that “several people were seriously injured, some even fatally” in the incident.

Bible study group

Police said an event was on in the non-descript, three-storey building on Thursday evening. Jehovah’s Witnesses had gathered for a weekly Bible study meeting, according to the local daily Hamburger Abendblatt.

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

The first officers at the scene found several lifeless bodies and seriously wounded people, police said. Hamburger Abendblatt reported that 17 unhurt people, who had been at the event, were being attended to by the fire brigade.