Eight people have died and several others were (critically) injured during a rare mass shooting at a Jehovah's Witness centre in Hamburg, Germany on Thursday night.
Police confirmed late on Thursday evening on Twitter that shots were fired around 21:00 in a church between the Alsterdorf and the Groß Borstel district, a few kilometres north of the downtown area of Germany's second-biggest city.
"Several people were seriously injured, some even fatally," the police said on Thursday night, but it has since been confirmed a total of eight people have been found dead, which could include the perpetrator, police noted.
"We found a lifeless person who we assume could be the perpetrator. In order to exclude the involvement of further perpetrators, we are carrying out checks and conducting a comprehensive search," police said, adding that investigations are running at "full speed."
It is assumed just one person was behind the attack. So far, there is "no reliable information" on the motive for the crime.
The Hamburg Ministry of the Interior and Sport (BIS), the public prosecutor's office and the police will be holding a joint press conference on Friday during which information on the operation will be provided.
'Deeply saddened' by 'violent attack'
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reacted to the deadly shooting, calling it a "brutal act of violence."
"Terrible news from Hamburg. Several members of a community of Jehovah's witnesses have fallen victim to a brutal act of violence," he said on his official Twitter account on Friday morning.
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"My thoughts are with them and their loved ones. And to the security forces who carried out a difficult operation."
Meanwhile, the community of Jehovah's Witnesses said on Friday it was "deeply saddened by the deadly attack against its members."
