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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Daniel Boffey in Hamburg

Hamburg police were tipped off about gunman but did not take his weapon

Police working on Friday at the scene of the shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the German city of Hamburg.
Police working on Friday at the scene of the shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the German city of Hamburg. Photograph: Florian Thoss/The Guardian

A tipoff was received two months ago by the authorities in Hamburg about the gunman who went on to kill seven people including an unborn baby in a Jehovah’s Witness hall, but he had persuaded officials not to take away his gun.

An anonymous letter was received by the weapons control authority in January raising concerns about a man named by German police as Philipp F, 35, saying that he appeared angry with his former fellow church members, but officers had found no reason for concern when they visited him last month.

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