Police officers stand outside a building where a shooting the night before in Alsterdorf district on March 9, 2023 in Hamburg, Germany.
Gregor Fischer / Getty Images
A German gunman who killed six people previously claimed he could make millions for business clients.
The deadly shooting was at a Jehovah’s Witness hall in the city of Hamburg.
The gunman, identified as Philipp F., shot and killed himself when police arrived at the scene.
A gunman who killed six people and left many more injured at a Jehovah’s Witness hall in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday night was a business coach who claimed he could make millions for his clients, said a leading German news outlet.
German authorities identified the shooter only as Philipp F. — a former Jehovah’s Witness and member of the congregation he later attacked. Police said he had left “voluntarily, but not on good terms” a year and a half ago, according to the Associated Press.
The shooter used a semiautomatic handgun he legally owned and fired more than 100 shoots during the attack. The assailant shot and killed himself when police arrived on the scene on Thursday.
It was later reported that police had been tipped off by an anonymous letter about concerns that Philipp F might be suffering from “an undiagnosed psychological illness” two months before the deadly shooting, according to the Guardian.
DAlthoughhe had “particular anger against religious members or against the Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer,” police decided there was no cause for concern at the time.
Phillip F. was identified as a business consultant, according to German news outlet Der Spiegel, for which he charged clients an “astronomical daily rate” of 250,000 euros (about $266,000) for consulting services.
According to his website, Phillip F. justified the massive fee because he believed his coaching would produce “at least 2.5 million euros” for his clients, Der Spiegel reported.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the incident as a “brutal act of violence,” according to the BBC, while Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher called the news “shattering.”
The four men and two women killed in the attack were all German nationals, and an injured pregnant woman lost her baby.
Gun laws in Germany are relatively lax compared to the rest of Europe, and there has been a recent push for the country to tighten its gun control measures.