German police have not yet found out what caused the man to attack the building where a group of Jehovah’s was gathered. Seven people died, including an unborn child. The suspect was a former Jehovah’s Witness and is described as having had “bad feelings” against the faith community, according to the BBC. When the police stormed the building, the man is said to have jumped upstairs and shot himself. The public prosecutor in Hamburg believes there were no political motives behind the attack, while the police believe the suspect may have been mentally ill. They believe the man was the only person behind the attack. He did not have a criminal record, according to the Bild newspaper, but is said to have previously contacted the police to report his intention to commit fraud. In December 2022, the man obtained a firearms license as a sports shooter, and then bought the semi-automatic weapon that was used in the mass shooting. In order to get such a card, you have to go through a check, where the roller blade and connections to extreme environments are checked, according to the German newspaper. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser brought flowers to the crime scene on Friday. Photo: FABIAN BIMMER / Reuters The police are said to have previously received an anonymous notice that the man should not have a firearms license due to an undiagnosed mental disorder. This led to them visiting the man in his flat, but they did not find anything that gave grounds to take the weapon from him, the police say further. When they searched his flat after the attack, the police allegedly found 15 loaded magazines with ammunition. On Friday, the German Minister of the Interior says that they are proposing a change in the law which requires that one also tests whether the person is mentally capable of owning a weapon before they can get a weapon licence. Grow up in a “strictly evangelical” home The suspect has described large parts of his life publicly, on the website of what he claims is a very successful consulting company. Many of the claims he makes appear to be unreliable. For example, consulting services cost several million kroner. He promises a sky-high profit, and gives this as the reason for the price. The man writes that he is highly educated, with a master’s degree, and that he grew up in a strictly evangelical home. The perpetrator is said to have committed suicide when the police entered the building where the shooting took place. Photo: FABIAN BIMMER / Reuters He was, according to the police, a former Jehovah’s Witness, who left the faith community around a year and a half ago. Jehovah’s Witnesses are a Christian group with approximately 8 million members worldwide, who have their own interpretation of the Bible. They believe, among other things, that the end of the world is near, and that they, as a select group, will be saved when it happens. The trust society says in a statement that they are “deeply affected by the terrible attack on their members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg, after a church service had finished”. They write that around 50 people were present when the attack started. On the side of the building there is a link to the Jehovah’s Witness website. Photo: CLAIRE MORAND / AFP The police responded by sending out 950 officers, partly because of video from the crime scene which made it look like there were two perpetrators, writes AFP. This turned out not to be true. Germany has experienced several deadly attacks and assassinations in recent years, which both Islamists and far-right extremists have been behind. Wrote religious book praising “Russian values” On his website, the suspected perpetrator presents a kind of manifesto, in which he describes his interpretation of religion and society. He believes he has found concrete examples of God in the past taking revenge on individuals, entire societies, states and peoples. Furthermore, he claims that he is the only one who has understood God’s plan. The perpetrator started the attack by shooting through a window into the worship room, writes AFP. Photo: FABIAN BIMMER / Reuters From this text it is also clear that the man interprets the war in Ukraine as a cosmic war, where Russia represents God’s will and the USA is the opponent. – Then it is the battle between the bad and the good that he thinks about, says Iselin Frydenlund to news. She is a professor of religious studies at the MF university of science, and says one has seen such black-and-white rhetoric in connection with IS attacks and 9/11, but also in Russian religious propaganda. – The Russian Orthodox Church has spoken in similar terms, that it is Russia that in a way defends the good values against the degenerate West. Iselin Frydenlund is professor of religious studies at the MF University of Science. – It is nothing new that right-wing radicals in Europe have contact with Putin’s Russia, and they want a common value base. She is still clear that little is known about what has happened, and that the contents of the suspect’s book are not necessarily the reason for the violence. The only thing that can be said for sure, she believes, is that this is an attack on Jehovah’s Witnesses. – If he had bad experiences with Jehovah’s Witnesses and was mentally ill, then I would think that this is what has triggered this, regardless of the ideological background. – We really cannot connect that manifesto to this action directly.
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This is what we know about the suspect after the mass shooting in Hamburg – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
