Seven People Killed in a Shooting at the Jehovah's Witness Church in Hamburg, Germany

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Tony Webster)

JAKARTA - A gunman believed to have acted alone killed several people Thursday at a Jehovah's Witness church in the German city of Hamburg, with authorities focused on investigating the motive for the deadly attack.

Police declined to say how many people were killed, but said the gunman was believed to be among the dead.

Meanwhile, the Bild newspaper reported that seven people were killed and eight injured in a shooting at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in the northern city which is home to Germany's largest port.

"According to the current circumstances, we assume there is only one perpetrator," police said in a message on Twitter, reported Reuters March 10.

"Police activities in the surrounding area have been successively terminated. Investigation of the motives behind the crime is continuing," the statement continued.

Earlier, Germany's DPA news agency, citing a reporter at the scene, said residents in the city's northern Alsterdorf District had received a warning on their mobile phones of a "life-threatening situation" and roads had been closed.

Television footage showed dozens of police and fire engines blocking roads, while several people, wrapped in blankets, were carried by emergency services onto buses.

"We heard shots. There were 12 continuous shots. Then we saw how people were being taken away with black bags," an unidentified witness told reporters.

Police said they had received the call shortly after 9pm local time. Officers arrived at the scene to find several people critically injured and several dead.

"Then they heard gunshots from above, they went upstairs and found one more person," said a police spokesperson.

The Mayor of Hamburg expressed his shock over Thursday's bloody events.

"I extend my deepest sympathies to the families of the victims. Officers are working at full speed to catch the perpetrators and clarify their background," Peter Tschentscher said on Twitter.

Germany has been rocked by a number of shellings in recent years. In February 2020, a gunman suspected of having links to far-right groups shot dead nine people, including migrants from Turkey, in the western city of Hanau before killing his mother and then killing himself.

In October 2019, a gunman killed two people when he opened fire outside a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.