The man who opened fire at an event of Jehovah's Witnesses in Hamburg used to belong to this religious community himself.
This became known to Spiegel.
According to the publication, the suspect is a former member of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" community aged between 30 and 40.
The murder weapon was a gun. It is not known whether the man had the gun legally.
He was not known to the authorities as an extremist.
According to reports, the man forcibly entered the building of the religious community, where a service was held with the participation of up to 50 people.
The authorities qualify this act as an intentional murder. The law enforcement officers assume that the criminal was alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the fatal shooting a brutal act of violence. "Bad news from Hamburg. Several members of the 'Church of Jehovah' were victims of a brutal act of violence last night. My thoughts are with them and their families. And with the security forces who were carrying out a difficult mission," he wrote on Friday morning via government Twitter account.
As reported, eight people were killed in the shooting during the event organized by Jehovah's Witnesses, who were probably among them assailants.f