Three dead in knife attack in western Germany

Police are continuing their search for the man who killed three people in a knife attack in the western German city of Solingen on Friday, and believe it was a terrorist attack and not an act of madness, as was initially thought.

According to witnesses quoted in the media, the attacker was dressed in black and had a beard and managed to escape amid the commotion after stabbing eight people who were taking part in an open-air festival in the city centre.

Police have deployed a large number of forces around Solingen’s old town, including special forces, and have asked the public to provide clues via a specially activated internet portal or telephone line.

Residents have been asked to be careful when walking in the city’s old town and to call the authorities if any suspicious individuals appear.

A random attack

“The attacker stabbed people at random. That is why we are now assuming that this was an attack,” said Commissioner Sascha Kresta, spokesman for the Wuppertal police, adding that according to his information the attacker had deliberately tried to injure the victims in the neck area.

“At this moment there are three victims who have been fatally wounded and five seriously injured, as well as people who are in shock,” he said in statements to the press.

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul, who was at the scene, said the attacker was probably acting alone and warned against spreading speculation.

There is no “solid evidence” at the moment, he admitted, although he said that the police are working against the clock to locate the attacker.

Arrested

A 15-year-old teenager was arrested on Saturday in Solingen on suspicion of involvement in a knife attack that left three people dead and eight injured, several of them seriously, in the western German city on Friday.

“A 15-year-old man was arrested this morning,” police spokesman Thorsten Fleiss said at a press conference on Saturday.

The teenager is suspected of having had prior knowledge of the incident and of not having acted to prevent it, he said, but investigators believe he is not the attacker, who is thought to have acted alone.

Shocked

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “shocked” by the attack. “The attack in Solingen is a terrible event, which has left me in shock. The perpetrator of the attack has brutally killed several people,” he wrote on social media X.

“I wish the injured a speedy recovery. The perpetrator must be quickly arrested and punished to the full extent of the law,” he added.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that security forces were doing everything possible to “capture the perpetrator and clarify the background to the attack,” according to a brief statement released to the media.

The incident occurred at around 10pm on Friday (20 GMT) during an open-air festival in the centre of Solingen on the occasion of the 650th anniversary of the founding of the western German city.

“I don’t want to create panic, please stay calm. But we have a knife attack with several people injured, we have to stop the festival. Please go home slowly,” said one of the festival’s officials, Phillip Müller.

The festival had to be suspended and people were asked to avoid the city centre and stay at home.

“We are all in shock in Solingen. We wanted to celebrate the anniversary of our city and now we have to mourn the dead and grieve for the injured. I have tears in my eyes and a broken heart. I think of those who have died and pray for those who are still fighting for their lives,” said Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach on Facebook.

The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Hendrik Wüst, said on his X account that the entire state is now united in a feeling of dismay and mourning.

“This is a brutal and senseless act of violence that has struck us in the heart,” he said.

The Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, has travelled to Solingen. “One wishes that what we are seeing here were not true. I am thinking of the relatives of the victims and the injured. We can only hope that the seriously injured will be saved,” he said.

Suspension

At least 80,000 visitors were expected to attend the 650th anniversary of Solingen over the weekend. The festival was to continue until Sunday with various concerts and shows.

The attack came just days after Interior Minister Nancy Faeser announced plans to restrict the carrying of long knives in public.

According to police statistics, 9,000 cases of knife injuries were recorded in Germany last year.

Berlin / EFE