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Attorney General takes over investigation into Philipp F.

After the killing spree in a community center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hamburg, the Attorney General of the Hanseatic city is now leading the investigation.

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Attorney General takes over investigation into Philipp F.

After the killing spree in a community center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hamburg, the Attorney General of the Hanseatic city is now leading the investigation. "The case against Philipp F. was taken over by the Hamburg Public Prosecutor's Office - Central Office for State Security - because of its special importance and possible religious-extremist references," said a spokeswoman for the Public Prosecutor's Office when asked by WELT.

The investigations there served the aim of "clarifying all the background to the crime in more detail and to check whether third parties are jointly responsible under criminal law for the events of March 9, 2023". In this context, the processes pending at the Hamburg public prosecutor's office, in which Philipp F. appeared as a complainant, would also be evaluated again.

During the shooting last Thursday in the north of Hamburg, 35-year-old Philipp F. shot seven people and himself. The police also counted an unborn child among the dead. Eight people were injured. The perpetrator had fired more than 100 times with a semi-automatic pistol. Hamburg's police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said at a press conference that he had been in legal possession of this weapon since December 12.

From the point of view of Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD), when asked about the motive, a trend can be seen. "At the moment everything indicates that the motive lies in the relationship between this community of Jehovah's Witnesses and the perpetrator as a former member of this community," Grote told the Hamburger Abendblatt.

According to information from security circles, the shooter was not known to be an extremist. Philipp F. was a former member of the Hamburg community of Jehovah's Witnesses, which he left voluntarily a year and a half ago, but apparently not on good terms, as the police, prosecutors and interior authorities announced on Friday.

The 35-year-old was a sports shooter, had a gun license and had only recently been visited by the weapons authority. In January, the authorities received an anonymous tip about a possible mental illness from Philipp F. He was therefore visited unannounced in early February by two officers from the Weapons Authority.

Meanwhile, the shooting has also brought the ongoing political discussion about stricter gun laws back into focus. After the crime, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced that she wanted to review the draft amendment to the Weapons Act.

Even if the topic of gun law has not yet been on the agenda of the Bundestag's internal affairs committee, it should continue to cause discussions. Most recently, Faeser had turned the hunters' and riflemen's associations against her with her plans for more controls and regulations.

These in turn received support from the FDP. Deputy FDP party leader Wolfgang Kubicki told WELT: “The natural reaction of initially wanting to ban everything is out of the question. That's a humanly understandable reaction, but it doesn't help when in doubt."

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