A deadly shooting in Germany has seen several people killed and many others injured in a Hamburg Jehovah’s Witness hall during a religious service on Thursday evening report German police.
Hamburg Police said on Twitter that “several people were seriously wounded, some of them fatally”, but didn’t give a precise figure.
“We are onsite with a large contingent of forces,” the department tweeted.
“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 spokesman Holger Vehren said investigators had “indications that a perpetrator may have been in the building and may be even among the dead”, the Associated Press news agency reports.
Police did not have to use their firearms during the incident, he said. Mr Vehren said that police had heard a “shot coming from the upper floors of the building”. There were no indications of a perpetrator on the run, he added.
Mr Vehran also said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded, who had been taken to hospital.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international Christian religion founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in New York.
The organisation claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.
