The perpetrator had been expelled from Jehovah's Witnesses a year and a half before the mass shooting.

According to the German police, there are different opinions about whether the man was excluded from Jehovah's Witnesses, but consistent witness statements say "that he would have left under bad circumstances." The last 



post the perpetrator wrote on Linkedin was just hours before the mass shooting.

There he wrote: all book customers are 100 percent satisfied "these are really fantastic numbers". 

The police have not yet been able to confirm a motive for the incident.

Anonymous tip two months before the crime 



The police had already received an anonymous tip about the man in January 2023. The tip expressed concern that the man would suffer from mental illness.

The tipster also expresses concern that the man harbors a great hatred for Jehovah's Witnesses.

The tip led the police to make a home visit to the perpetrator.

During the unannounced home visit, a large amount of weapons were found in the 35-year-old's possession.

However, the man had a weapons license and during the visit there were no signs that the man should have suffered from mental illness.  

- There were no signs that the man was planning a crime.

He had a weapons license and his weapons were in order in custody, says Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Mayer during the press conference.

His own manifesto, which was published as a book in English, was presented by himself in a press release as "bigger than the Koran". 

Despite the fact that the man was on the police's radar and people had received tips about potential mental illness, the man never underwent any psychiatric examination.  

- Without signs, we had no legal grounds to demand a psychiatric investigation, explains Martin Meyer.

Police home visits are met with tough questions 

The German police are today met with a lot of criticism as to why they did not act differently.

During today's press conference, the police said that they will be self-critical and investigate whether they acted correctly. 

The German police special unit USE was in the vicinity of the Kingdom Hall when the alarm about the shooting came.

They heard the last shot as they entered the building that housed 50 parishioners.