Memorial held for victims of Jehovah’s Witness shooting in Hamburg, Germany

Religious leaders in Hamburg urged people not to give up on peace at a memorial service Sunday for the six Jehovah’s Witnesses killed in last week’s mass shooting by a former member.

Catholic and Protestant churches organized the service, along with the Association of Christian Churches. Jehovah’s Witnesses did not attend because it is against their beliefs to participate in interfaith worship services, according to the religion’s website.

In a letter, the Jehovah’s Witnesses acknowledged the sympathy of fellow residents of the northern German city, according to Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

They plan to hold a memorial service of their own next week, in line with their beliefs, DW reported.

Sunday’s service was attended by local politicians as well as clergy.

“The more insurmountable the difficulties and the bleaker the prospects for security and peace seem, the more insistent our prayers must be and the more we must stand together in this city,” Catholic Archbishop Stefan Hesse was quoted as saying by DW.

Speakers including Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher paid tribute to the first responders and emergency chaplains who had rushed to the scene.

“For me, God was present — in you, dressing wounds, recovering the dead, hugging the frightened, reassuring neighbors,” Protestant Bishop Kirsten Fehrs said.

The shooting took place March 9 at a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall house of worship at about 9 p.m. local time. Seven people were killed, including the suspect and a pregnant woman’s unborn baby. Eight others were injured.

The suspect, identified by German authorities only as Philipp F., killed himself after the shooting. He had been a Jehovah’s Witness until leaving the religious group two years earlier.