He was a consultant and had written a book: Who is Philipp, the author of the shooting at a center of Jehovah’s Witnesses – World

The gunman who on Thursday night killed six people at a center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany, is Philipp Fusz, 35, a German citizen and former member of the religious community, with which he had apparently come into conflict, according to the British press.

At a press conference, a senior German police official said the gunman left the Jehovah community about 18 months ago, “but that apparently it was not on good terms”.

Hamburg’s state prosecutor said a terrorist motive had already been ruled out, with the police chief suggesting during the press conference that Philipp might suffer from mental illness.

Hamburg Police Chief Ralf Martin Meyer said the suspect had a firearms license and had legally owned a semi-automatic weapon since last December.

Meyer revealed that Philipp had already been approached by police after an anonymous tip was made in January, which claimed that the man showed “anger towards groups of religious believers, in particular Jehovah’s Witnesses”. At the time, the man cooperated with the police and showed no signs that would lead the agents to find reasons to remove the weapon. “The reality is that an anonymous tip where someone says another person has a mental illness is not, by itself, enough to take action,” Meyer said.

On an internet page, created by himself, and to which the daily mail had access, Philipp Fusz claims to have moved to Hamburg to work in the energy sector. He sold consulting services for which he charged €250,000 a day. “The value is due to the fact that my work will leverage the company by at least 2.5 million euros”, he wrote on the page, to justify the cost.

“Doing good to others will bring you back in a meaningful way, from places you can’t even imagine”, he also wrote on the website, where there are also links to a book written by Philipp and entitled “The Truth about God, Jesus Christ and Satan. A Reflected New Vision of Epochal Dimensions”.

According to Amazon, the book was published on December 20, 2022 and in the “About the Author” section there is information that Philipp was born on September 18, 1987 and grew up in Kempten, in the Allgäu region, southern Germany, in a very religious family. He settled in Hamburg after studying business administration and having lived abroad on several occasions.

At least six people died and eight others were injured in the aftermath of the shooting. A seven-month pregnant woman was hit and the fetus ended up dying. Philipp committed suicide after the police arrived, local authorities announced.