AN unborn baby was among seven killed when a former Jehovah's Witness opened fire on worshippers with a hail of 100 bullets.
The gunman, named as Philipp F, 35, left the religious group "not on good terms" 18 months before he returned in a deadly rampage at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg on Thursday night.
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Around 50 worshippers were at the venue when the gunman opened fire through a window then stormed inside shortly after 9pm.
Police said he emptied nine magazines from a semi-automatic pistol -more than 100 rounds - as he gunned down members of the congregation.
Armed cops arrived within minutes and the gunman fled to an upper floor then shot himself dead, police said in a press conference today.
As well as the gunman, four men and two women were confirmed dead in the bloodbath in the Alsterdorf district of the German city.
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A seven-months pregnant woman was shot, killing her baby daughter - but she survived.
A total of eight victims were injured, four of them seriously.
Today the Hamburg State Prosecutor said the attacker had no criminal record but had been in touch with the authorities to report suspected fraud in the past.
The attacker left the Jehovah's Witnesses about 18 months ago "but apparently not on good terms" a senior police official said.
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And in a major blunder, German cops failed to take action after receiving an anonymous tip-off about the gunman saying they did not have enough grounds and giving him a verbal warning instead.
The shooter was a German citizen and legally owned a semi-automatic pistol since December.
A search of his apartment after the bloodbath turned up a chilling cache of 15 magazines of ammunition.
He was named in German reports as Philipp F., who called himself a business consultant and claimed he charged clients 250,000 euros a day.
On one webpage that appears to be his bizarre personal website, Philipp F. states that he was raised in a "strict evangelical household."
He self-published a book in January with the title: The Truth About God, Jesus Christ and Satan.
It is described as "a book which will change your view of the world and will be a new standard book next to the Bible and Koran, a book which will be also valid in 100 years’ time."
According to Bild, Phillipp F. shared one final LinkedIn post regarding the book just four hours before the devastating shooting.
It read: "After over two months, I can determine from my sales report that my book has a 100% satisfaction rate.
"No returns, however there are samples or used in the market. That is quite an astonishing record! Who else has a 100% satisfaction rate?"
Cops have ruled out any links to terrorism.
Chilling video footage filmed by a neighbour showed the killer firing through a window from outside as a series of shots pierce the night air.
Student Laura Bauch, who lives nearby, told Bild: "There were about four firing periods. During these periods, several shots were always fired, roughly 20 seconds to a minute apart."
She added that she looked outside her window and saw a person running from the ground floor to the second floor of the Jehovah's Witnesses hall.
The gunman was distracted by the police's rapid arrival on the scene - which may have prevented many more deaths, said Horst Niens, head of the police union in Hamburg.
Cops arriving at the scene said they heard a shot coming from the upper floor.
German Police said: "We found a lifeless person in a community centre in #GroßBorstel who we believe could be a perpetrator.
"In order to rule out the involvement of other perpetrators, we carry out checks and searched extensively."
Hamburg police tweeted early Friday: "The police measures in the surrounding area are gradually being discontinued.
"Investigations into the background of the crime are continuing."
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday he was left "speechless" by the attack in his hometown and that his thoughts went out to the victims and their relatives.
"We fear that further victims may die from their severe wounds," he said.
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Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher said: "The reports from Alsterdorf are shocking.
"My deepest condolences to the families of the victims.
"The emergency services are working flat out to track down the perpetrators and clarify the background."
Germany has been rocked by several attacks in recent years.
Among the deadliest committed was a truck rampage by Islamic extremists at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.
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In February 2020 an extremist shot dead 10 people and wounded five others in the central German city of Hanau.
And in 2019, two people were killed after a neo-Nazi tried to storm a synagogue in Halle on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
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