On behalf of the Hamburg police, extremism researcher Peter Neumann has prepared an expert report on Phillip F., who shot the gunman. Accordingly, the 35-year-old is a “religious fanatic”. Neumann’s analysis goes back to the book entitled “The Truth About God, Jesus Christ and Satan”, which F. had published a few weeks before the crime.
“Hatred of Christian religious communities is the most plausible motive”
Neumann says in an interview with “Spiegel” that “hatred of Christian religious communities is the most plausible motive for Philipp F.”‘s actions. According to him, he was a “religious fanatic” who was angry that “religious communities withheld the truth from believers.
It goes on to say that the book is not a “manifesto”. The 300-page book contains no evidence of a planned assassination. Neumann continues: “Without knowing the events, you wouldn’t have guessed it that he wants to kill Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
Neumann’s report also describes that references to “anti-democratic views” can be found in F’s book, but no conclusions can be drawn about the Hamburg killer’s extreme right-wing sentiments.
