Who was Philipp F.?: Consultant, author and angry

The quick action of the police has probably prevented an even worse bloodshed in the killing spree during a community meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg. But the hatred with which the alleged perpetrator killed seven people and finally himself did not come out of nowhere. In January, an anonymous whistleblower drew the weapons authorities’ attention to Philipp F’s “particular anger towards religious supporters, especially towards Jehovah’s Witnesses,” says Hamburg’s police chief Ralf Martin Meyer. Also: Again, the alleged perpetrator is a marksman.

Weapons Authority was forewarned

Just a month before the notice, the 35-year-old had received the gun owner’s license and bought a semi-automatic pistol. The tipster from January is obviously worried and fears a mental illness, which Philipp F. says he cannot treat. And given the gun ownership, he thinks it is necessary to warn the authorities about Philipp F. – at the latest then the man is on the radar.

Philipp F. revealed a lot about himself and his world of ideas on the Internet. The perpetrator’s website shows, for example, that he dealt intensively with God and Jesus Christ.

star-Reporter Jana Luck has looked at his website: whoever opens his homepage reads “Excellence delivered” – delivered excellence, the promise signed with a signature Fs The page is kept in dark grey, dark red and white, garnished with calendar pictures from Hamburg: Binnenalster, Elbphilharmonie in front of old warehouses, the site is in English.

F. writes about Satan and e-mobility

He also published a number of publications on his website. They give an insight into the head of the man and his thought patterns. In it he writes about Satan and quotes Psalm verses, but also about e-mobility and Elon Musk as one of the “smartest people on the planet”. He arranges people in hierarchies, putting people with epochal or biblical power first, followed by visionaries, founders, women and men of history, followed by sports stars, show stars, entertainers and artists. He even recommends hourly wages ordered by skill level.

His book in particular stands out: 306 pages, he has been offering it for sale on the Internet since the end of 2022. It is entitled The Truth About God, Jesus Christ and Satan: A New Reflected View of Epochal Dimensions. He shows the connection to religion in the description of the four pillars of his job activities, one of the tabs is called: “Theology & Law”. Pretty unusual for a consultant.

The weapons authority had checked the reliability of the man from Memmingen in the Allgäu when the gun owner’s license was issued, and routinely made inquiries in the files of the police, constitutional and state protection. But there were no doubts about the reliability of the later gunman, says police chief Meyer.

After the information about his alleged problems, two officers from the weapons authority visited him in his apartment on February 7 – unannounced. “He was cooperative, gave information willingly, it was an open conversation.” Both the weapon and the safe in which it was kept gave no cause for complaint, “except for one small thing, because a projectile was above the safe,” said the police chief.

Philipp F. “It was also obviously embarrassing”

The overall circumstances would not have given the officials any clues “that could have indicated a mental illness”. They talked about everyday things like the home furnishings “and went out at the end of the day and gave him a verbal warning because of the small violation”. Philipp F. apologized, “he was also obviously embarrassed”.

At this point, Philipp F. disappeared again from the radar of the authorities, until this Thursday, until the act of violence in the community meeting, which Hamburg’s Senator for the Interior Andy Grote (SPD) called “the worst crime in the recent history of our city” a day later. will denote.

The day after, both the senator and his police chief refer to the gun law, which also ties the hands of the authorities. Even if the two officials from the weapons authority had personally convinced themselves on site and had no doubts about Philipp F.’s reliability, “we have to take another critical look at the legal processes and the requirements for further measures,” says Meyer. An anonymous letter is not sufficient for the withdrawal of the owner’s license.

The question of personal reliability and suitability in connection with gun ownership “has been on our minds for quite a while, especially at the legislative level,” says Grote. “And just the question: Are we well enough positioned to check applicants for mental illnesses, abnormalities, instabilities?” It is not for nothing that the federal government has presented a draft law that provides for this as standard. However, there is still resistance to the draft in the deliberations in the federal government departments.

Memories of the Hanau assassination

The whole discussion is not new: The case is reminiscent of the attack in Hanau, where a mentally ill right-wing extremist, who legally owned weapons as a marksman, killed nine people with a migration background in 2020 for racist motives. He then shot his mother and then killed himself.

Although the later assassin harbored extremist thoughts and delusions, which also emerged from letters he wrote to official bodies, he had not been prohibited from owning a gun. After the attack, the then Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) campaigned for a reform of the gun law so that the mentally ill would no longer have access to guns. However, he was not able to assert himself on this point at the time, also because of complex questions about data protection and medical confidentiality.

nik DPA