Two injured by shots near Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, concert hall cleared by police

Shots reported in HafenCity

On Tuesday, 10 November, rescue services were alerted at around 8:50 to reports of two people injured near the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg's HafenCity. Police posted on their official WhatsApp channel that a suspected shooting had taken place in the district and that a search for the shooter was under way. A police spokesperson told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that, based on first findings, there was no danger to the public and that about a dozen patrol cars were on site. Police also said there were indications that the background to the act could lie in the family sphere, and that the homicide squad had taken over the investigation.

“According to current findings, a suspected shooting took place in the HafenCity this morning.”

Injuries and the weapon in question

Bild reported that the shots were fired about 150 metres from the Elbphilharmonie, wounding a man and a woman, and that the suspected shooter had fled. NDR put the distance at just under 100 metres and said the shots were fired in a residential building on Kaiserkai. According to the Hamburger Abendblatt, the woman was hit in the neck and the man in the hip, and the alleged weapon was a gas pistol. The paper also reported that the suspect was initially still at large. Bild said it was unclear whether a live round or only a gas pistol had been fired. Police did not initially say what injuries the two people had suffered.

Police operation and cordon

According to NDR and Bild, police cleared the concert hall and its forecourt, and several groups of people were led out of the Elbphilharmonie. Special forces (SEK) arrived, and Bild video footage showed officers, some carrying submachine guns. A witness told the Abendblatt that he heard shots from the stairwell of the building on Kaiserkai, after which a police support unit for difficult operations (USE) surrounded the building. The paper reported that officers went into the building around 10:00 and began a search, and that the area around the scene was cordoned off. A police spokesperson said the background to the injuries was part of the investigation.

“The background to the injuries is part of the investigation.”

Possible link to Eningen

Police in Reutlingen said they are checking whether there is a connection to the Hamburg incident. Two dead people were found on Tuesday morning in an apartment in Eningen unter Achalm, south of Stuttgart. SWR reported that police were checking connections between the Hamburg shots and Reutlingen. The reports available at the time did not give a cause of death or confirm any link between the two events.

What remains open

The reports did not name a suspect, and it was not clear where the search for the alleged shooter was focused. Tagesschau said more information would follow shortly. The police operation in Hamburg was still ongoing when the latest reports were published.