The dad of a former Jehovah’s Witnesses who gunned down worshippers in a hail of bullets had warned officials about his son two years ago, an inquiry has heard.

Philipp Fusz, 35, shot seven people – including an unborn child – dead during a Jehovah’s Witness service in Hamburg on 9th March before taking his own life.

Now an inquiry into the bloodbath has heard that Fusz’s father called social workers in 2021 saying his son was suicidal and hearing voices.

The hearing was told that social workers then spoke to Fusz and reported that no further action was necessary despite his mental health history.

And in 2019 – the hearing heard – Fusz had also sought medical help himself after the end of a relationship and losing his job.

The head of the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office, Jan Hieber, described Fusz as suffering from a severe personality disorder.

Hieber said he had sought help “to get his mental problems under control”.

And just months ago, the inquiry heard, the Hanseatic Gun Club – where Fusz was a member – had warned Hamburg police about him.

Fusz – a former member of the Jehovah’s Witness group he attacked – fired more than 100 rounds into the congregation.

He killed six adults and one unborn child, and injured eight other people before turning the gun on himself.

Fusz’s troubled mental health emerged as Germany’s Citizen’s Committee of the Interior grilled officials over whether the tragedy could have been avoided.

At the hearing on Thursday, 6th April, both Hamburg’s Senator for the Interior and Sports, Andy Grote, and police chief Ralf Martin Meyer claimed checks had been made.

Just days before the shooting, they had received an anonymous tip-off over Fusz’s mental state.

But – the pair said – he passed the checks and claimed there was no reason to take away his gun as they did not believe he could be violent.

They said during the four-and-a-half hour session: “As things stand at present, no legal accusation can be made against the employees of the weapons authority.”

Astonishingly even after the massacre, they said that even “with the knowledge we have today”, there was “probably not” anything they could have done to stop it.

After the shooting, police classified it as a terrorist attack.

But extremism expert Peter Neumann from King’s College London told the inquiry that Fusz showed no extremist tendencies.

A book written by the gunman – ‘The Truth about God, Jesus Christ and Satan’ – was simply “very confused”, he said.

He added: “I couldn’t identify an extremist ideology to describe.

“I read this book and say, this is someone who hates Christian religious communities.”

Neumann also said: “I can tell you with certainty, this is not a terrorist manifesto.”

The inquiry continues.