Local newspaper “Solinger Tagblatt” reported that authorities had urged people to leave the center of Solingen immediately on Friday evening, where a concert was taking place on the Fronhof market square. One of the organizers of the festival to mark the 650th anniversary of Solingen, Philipp Mueller, informed the audience from the stage that rescuers were fighting to save the lives of nine people.
The police later announced that three people had died at the hands of the knifeman. On Friday, four people were also reported injured. On Saturday, the number increased to eight. Five of them have serious injuries, it added.
Police announced that the victims were two men, aged 67 and 56, and a 56-year-old woman.
Police in the city center after the knife attack in SolingenPAP/EPA/Volker Hartmann
On Saturday afternoon, Reuters reported that police had detained one person and were investigating whether he was connected to the attack. Police later said the person detained was a 15-year-old boy. He is not a suspect in the stabbing. The teenager is suspected of failing to report planned crimes. Another person allegedly spoke to him about plans that “fit” the attack in Solingen. Investigators assume the crime was committed by one person.
The knife-man was supposed to have aimed for the throats
Earlier, police reported that it was not known who the perpetrator was or what his motive was. They reported that the attack was being treated as a terrorist attack. According to police, the assailant deliberately aimed for the victims’ throats.
Prosecutor Markus Caspers said at a press conference that the motive for the crime had not yet been determined. “Based on the general circumstances, we assume that the initial suspicion of a crime motivated by terrorism cannot be ruled out,” he said.
– The police are following many leads. The situation is changing by the minute. There are many leads, but the police do not want to give any details yet, said Thorsten Fleiss, the police commander in Duesseldorf.
Flowers near the scene of the knife attack in SolingenPAP/EPA/Volker Hartmann
German Interior Minister: Brutal attack
“The brutal attack on the Solingen festival has shaken us to our core. We mourn the lives of those whose lives have been taken in such a terrible way. My thoughts are with the families of those killed and seriously injured,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on social media.
“Our security authorities are doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and establish the background to the attack,” she said. She added that the local police have the full support of the federal government. “I am in constant contact with the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, and our security authorities,” she said.
Germany. Knife attack during Solingen festival
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“Attack on the city”
Shortly after Friday’s attack, police surrounded the market square, where thousands of people had gathered. Helicopters circled the city. Solingen’s 650th anniversary festival, which was to last until Sunday, was interrupted.
“It breaks my heart that our city has been attacked. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost. I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives,” Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement on Friday.
Solingen has around 160,000 inhabitants and is located near Cologne and Duesseldorf in the west of the country.
There are fatalities and injuriesReuters
Main image source: EPA/VOLKER HARTMANN