Excerpt from:
Shooting in Hamburg: What we know so far
It sounds like a double - KH with two auditoriums, one on the ground floor and one on the second floor. I attended one such in Europe a few years ago.
According to the JW website 6 different congregations meet here: Croatian, Romanian, Twi, Tagalog, English and German. It was the German congregation that was meeting at the time of the shooting.
Police also revealed they had received an anonymous letter in January saying the attacker, named as 35-year-old Philipp F, should not be allowed to have weapons.
Six people and an unborn baby died in the incident, as well as the attacker who took his own life.
Officials also said:
• Among the dead were four men and two women and the unborn baby. Police confirmed the attacker was not related to any of those killed. All were German citizens.
• The mother of the unborn child survived the shooting
• Eight people were wounded, four of them seriously. Six of the eight injured are German, one is Ugandan and one is Ukrainian
• There were 50 people in the congregation at the time of the shooting. Twenty were able to flee from the building unharmed when the gunman entered
At a news conference, Hamburg's interior minister Andy Grote said the lone gunman was isolated by police when he ran to the floor above where the shooting took place and took his own life.
The gunman fired more than 100 rounds during the shooting.
Police also said that before the attacker went into the building, he fired 10 shots at a woman in a car parked outside - but she managed to get away and notify police.
In what has been described in local reports as "an incredible bloodbath" seven people were killed and several others seriously injured at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in the suburb of Alsterdorf. There are a further 17 people reported to have suffered minor injuries.
At a news conference, Hamburg's interior minister Andy Grote said the lone gunman was isolated by police when he ran to the floor above where the shooting took place and took his own life.
Mr Grote called it a "horrific crime" and "very cruel".
He said it was "something we've not experienced in the past - we see it on TV, we see it elsewhere, we've never seen it happen in our city".
"It was the worst crime that our city has experienced recently," he added.
Source: JW Updates tevangelinos Wix.com
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Excerpt from:
Hamburg Backlash : Watchtower PR Machine OUT OF CONTROL
According to SPIEGEL, Germany's leading newspaper the Churches want to commemorate the victims of the rampage among Jehovah's Witnesses with candles
To commemorate the victims of the Jehovah's Witnesses shooting, the Christian churches are planning a memorial service on Sunday. The religious community itself does not want to officially take part.
According to SPIEGEL, Germany's leading newspaper the Churches want to commemorate the victims of the rampage among Jehovah's Witnesses with candles
To commemorate the victims of the Jehovah's Witnesses shooting, the Christian churches are planning a memorial service on Sunday. The religious community itself does not want to officially take part.
MEDIA REACTION
After the Hamburg shooting, in German-speaking media several “cult experts” claimed that “probably” the assassin acted because he had been traumatized when he left the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They noted that the Jehovah’s Witnesses suggest that members in good standing, including non-cohabiting relatives, cease to associate with those who have been disfellowshipped or have formally resigned from the organization (so-called “shunning” or “ostracism”).
In Germany, one particularly vocal proponent of this theory was veteran professor of psychology Michael Utsch, who has worked since 1997 as a “cult expert” for the federation of German Protestant churches. He explained that the crime was the result of the “emotional pressure” the Jehovah’s Witnesses may have exerted on the killer, a case of “how the cults isolate and control people.” “Perhaps the Hamburg crime is an opportunity to finally take note of what the cults are doing,” he said.
In another interview, Utsch added it was “a pity” that the misdeeds of the “cults” “only now are coming more into the public eye because of such a terrible event.” Utsch also argued that the conservative theology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and their inability to reform themselves and “learn” how to adapt to the modern social context, may destabilize certain members and lead them to destructive acts.
(Included is an internal letter of the Watchtower Society)
Source: Hamburg Backlash : Watchtower PR Machine OUT OF CONTROL
Shooting in Hamburg: What we know so far
It sounds like a double - KH with two auditoriums, one on the ground floor and one on the second floor. I attended one such in Europe a few years ago.
According to the JW website 6 different congregations meet here: Croatian, Romanian, Twi, Tagalog, English and German. It was the German congregation that was meeting at the time of the shooting.
Police also revealed they had received an anonymous letter in January saying the attacker, named as 35-year-old Philipp F, should not be allowed to have weapons.
Six people and an unborn baby died in the incident, as well as the attacker who took his own life.
Officials also said:
• Among the dead were four men and two women and the unborn baby. Police confirmed the attacker was not related to any of those killed. All were German citizens.
• The mother of the unborn child survived the shooting
• Eight people were wounded, four of them seriously. Six of the eight injured are German, one is Ugandan and one is Ukrainian
• There were 50 people in the congregation at the time of the shooting. Twenty were able to flee from the building unharmed when the gunman entered
At a news conference, Hamburg's interior minister Andy Grote said the lone gunman was isolated by police when he ran to the floor above where the shooting took place and took his own life.
The gunman fired more than 100 rounds during the shooting.
Police also said that before the attacker went into the building, he fired 10 shots at a woman in a car parked outside - but she managed to get away and notify police.
In what has been described in local reports as "an incredible bloodbath" seven people were killed and several others seriously injured at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in the suburb of Alsterdorf. There are a further 17 people reported to have suffered minor injuries.
At a news conference, Hamburg's interior minister Andy Grote said the lone gunman was isolated by police when he ran to the floor above where the shooting took place and took his own life.
Mr Grote called it a "horrific crime" and "very cruel".
He said it was "something we've not experienced in the past - we see it on TV, we see it elsewhere, we've never seen it happen in our city".
"It was the worst crime that our city has experienced recently," he added.
Source: JW Updates tevangelinos Wix.com
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Excerpt from:
Hamburg Backlash : Watchtower PR Machine OUT OF CONTROL
According to SPIEGEL, Germany's leading newspaper the Churches want to commemorate the victims of the rampage among Jehovah's Witnesses with candles
To commemorate the victims of the Jehovah's Witnesses shooting, the Christian churches are planning a memorial service on Sunday. The religious community itself does not want to officially take part.
According to SPIEGEL, Germany's leading newspaper the Churches want to commemorate the victims of the rampage among Jehovah's Witnesses with candles
To commemorate the victims of the Jehovah's Witnesses shooting, the Christian churches are planning a memorial service on Sunday. The religious community itself does not want to officially take part.
MEDIA REACTION
After the Hamburg shooting, in German-speaking media several “cult experts” claimed that “probably” the assassin acted because he had been traumatized when he left the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They noted that the Jehovah’s Witnesses suggest that members in good standing, including non-cohabiting relatives, cease to associate with those who have been disfellowshipped or have formally resigned from the organization (so-called “shunning” or “ostracism”).
In Germany, one particularly vocal proponent of this theory was veteran professor of psychology Michael Utsch, who has worked since 1997 as a “cult expert” for the federation of German Protestant churches. He explained that the crime was the result of the “emotional pressure” the Jehovah’s Witnesses may have exerted on the killer, a case of “how the cults isolate and control people.” “Perhaps the Hamburg crime is an opportunity to finally take note of what the cults are doing,” he said.
In another interview, Utsch added it was “a pity” that the misdeeds of the “cults” “only now are coming more into the public eye because of such a terrible event.” Utsch also argued that the conservative theology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and their inability to reform themselves and “learn” how to adapt to the modern social context, may destabilize certain members and lead them to destructive acts.
(Included is an internal letter of the Watchtower Society)
Source: Hamburg Backlash : Watchtower PR Machine OUT OF CONTROL