Several killed in shooting at Jehovah's Witnesses event in Hamburg

Several people were shot dead during an event held by Jehovah's Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg, police said on Thursday evening, but many details, including whether the perpetrator is among the dead, remain to be confirmed.

The police and the city's interior ministry did not initially confirm the number of fatalities.

"According to initial findings, there are several dead among the victims," the police said. All of the fatalities suffered gun shot wounds, according to a spokesperson.

A police press conference on the state of investigations has been scheduled for Friday at around midday (1100 GMT), according to Hamburg's Senator of the Interior.

A report by Bild newspaper put the number of dead at seven and said at least eight others were injured during the shooting in a Kingdom Hall building.

Hamburg police has classified the crime as a rampage, security sources said.

The attack occurred at around 9 pm in the northern Groß Borstel area of the city, where special forces were deployed alongside Hamburg police.

Police were notified of the shooting by a phone call at around 9:15 pm, according to an initial official warning telling the public to avoid the area.

A special police unit in the vicinity entered the property and even heard a gunshot, a police spokesperson told broadcaster n-tv.

They initially saw dead and injured people and then heard the shot, he said. They found a dead man in the upper part of the building who they believe may have been the perpetrator, although this remained unclear.

A spokesperson later told n-tv there were no indications that a perpetrator was on the run and the warning to the public has since been lifted.

A local resident reported hearing several rounds of gunshots fired at the Jehovah's Witnesses event. "There were about four shooting periods," Laura Bauch, a student, said. "During each of these periods several shots were fired, about 20 seconds to a minute apart."

"I then looked further out of the window and saw a person running quite frantically from the ground floor to the first floor at the Jehovah's Witnesses' building," she added.

She later saw police carrying people out of the building, Bauch said.

A forensic team entered the building four hours after the shooting.

There were flashing blue lights at the scene as police cordoned off the area, backed up by officers carrying submachine guns to secure the crime scene, and a helicopter hovered over the area.

The officers were working to "ensure security at the scene and to quickly and comprehensively clarify the detailed circumstances of the crime," Senator of the Interior Grote wrote on Twitter.

The nature of the event held in the place of worship for Jehovah's Witnesses - inside a three-storey commercial building - was initially also unclear. According to the church's website, a weekly gathering had been scheduled for Thursday night which was open to the public, to discuss the Bible and how its teachings can be taken into account in life.

Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian group with its own interpretation of the Bible. Followers believe that the destruction of the present world is imminent and that they will be saved as a chosen community. The group has about 8 million members worldwide, with the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses based in New York. The German community, with approximately 200,000 members, is one of the largest in Europe.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed her shock at the shooting in the Alsterdorf, Groß Borstel area - a district with about 15,000 people.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives, with the congregation members and also with the emergency services at this difficult hour," Faeser told dpa.

Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher also extended his condolences.

"My deepest sympathy goes to the relatives of the victims," he said. Police were "working flat out to pursue the perpetrators and clarify the background [to the crime]."