Hamburg police were tipped off about gunman, but did not take his weapon
A tipoff was received two months ago by the authorities in Hamburg about the gunman who went on to kill seven people including an unborn baby in a Jehovah’s Witness hall, but he had persuaded officials not to take away his gun.
Eight people were injured, four seriously, raising fears that the death toll will increase. Six of those are German citizens, one is from Uganda and the other from Ukraine. It is the first mass shooting in Hamburg. Questions are being raised as to why he was not stopped. The suspect had a gun permit as a marksman since December 2022 and was in legal possession of a Heckler & Koch P30. But in January an anonymous letter was received suggesting he might be suffering from an undiagnosed psychological illness and that he had indicated a “particular anger against religious members or against the Jehovah’s Witnesses and his former employer”.
The violence had begun at around 9pm on Thursday evening when Fusz, a single man who had lived in Hamburg since 2015, arrived at Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall two hours into a service, and turned his weapon on a woman sitting in her car. Amid the chaos, one figure, dressed in dark clothes, fled up the stairs. Police pursued. One witness said they believe they saw the gunman peer out of a window. But with nowhere to run, Fusz turned his weapon on himself, cornered on the first floor of the building. “It is very likely that we owe it to the very, very quick and determined intervention of the police forces that there were no more victims here,” said Grote.
One webpage that appears to be Fusz’s personal website, states he was born in the Bavarian town of Memmingen and grew up in Kempten, close to the Austrian border, in a “strict evangelical household”. He studied at a technical college before an apprenticeship at a “leading private bank”. He lists studies in business administration, a BA and a science master’s among his academic achievements.
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