Young couple among eight killed in Jehovah's Witness church in mass shooting

14 March 2023 , 16:35

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Marie and James, both aged 29, were killed during the mass shooting in Hamburg, Germany (Image: Newsflash)

A young couple had their lives tragically cut short during a mass shooting which killed eight at a church.

Victims Marie and James were among eight killed in cold blood when gunman Philipp Fusz invaded the place of worship on March 9 at Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall in the German city of Hamburg.

The 35-year-old fired 135 shots in total, killing four men and two women aged 33 to 60, as well the unborn baby of one of the women.

Fusz then turned his legally-owned Heckler & Koch P30 semi-automatic handgun on himself.

A family member of the killed couple, both aged 29, said: "We are deeply affected."

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A friend added: "They both had their whole lives ahead of them. It's such an unbelievable emptiness. You just don't want to realise they're gone."

Flowers and candles in front of the entrance to a Jehovah's Witness community centre (Christian Charisius/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Marie was a nature lover and enjoyed roller skating. Her husband, James and her had been together for 10 years.

In addition to the eight dead, eight people were injured, four of which are in critical condition.

Fusz's killing spree remains under investigation.

Chief Public Prosecutor Liddy Oechtering said: "The proceedings have been taken over by the State Security Department of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

"The background is that the suspected motive is seen in the area of religious ideology."

Police chief Ralf Martin Meyer earlier stated that the suspect harboured "a particular anger against religious followers, especially against Jehovah's Witnesses and against his former employer".

Police officers stand in front of the Jehovah's Witnesses building in the Alsterdorf district (Christian Charisius/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

The 35-year-old shooter worked in a business centre.

Thomas Radszuweit, a Hamburg security official, said he was not previously known to authorities and there was no previous case against him.

Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said he had a weapons license and legally owned a semi-automatic pistol.

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According to the German magazine Spiegel, he was a former that had gathered for a Bible study meeting at the centre.

Citing his website, Spiegel said Fusz grew up in Kempten in the Allgäu region in a strictly religious family. After he left high school, he trained as a bank clerk.

He settled in Hamburg after studying business administration and after living abroad on a number of occasions. On his website, he says he is "multicultural" and "a self-confessed European".

Armed police officers near the scene of a shooting in Hamburg, Germany (AP)

Some have claimed that a 306-page book he self-published in December led to his expulsion from the church.

In the book, titled 'The Truth About God, Jesus Christ and Satan: A New Reflected View of Epochal Dimensions', Fusz interprets the Russian invasion of Ukraine as God's cleansing of Ukrainian sex workers.

Authorities have asked people not to speculate or spread rumours on the motive behind the shooting as there is "no reliable information" yet.

Shawaz Ahmad