German police hunt attacker who stabbed 3 people to death at festival

An unknown perpetrator armed with a knife attacked several people at random at a central square in the city, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Dusseldorf, German police said. Eight people were wounded in the attack, five of them seriously, police added.

A lone male suspect remained on the run on Saturday morning, with special forces deployed to the active manhunt, police said. Locals in Solingen have been warned to exercise caution and remain on alert.

Little is known about the attacker. Police have no detailed description of the suspect and are seeking further information to aid them in their search. A police spokesperson, Alexander Kresta, said the lack of information about the suspect was a “huge problem,” German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.

There is no indication yet of any motive. Asked by reporters whether this was a terror attack, however, a police spokesperson cautioned: “That would just be speculation. I can’t say that at the moment.”

Crowds had gathered at the square in Solingen Friday to celebrate the “Festival of Diversity,” a three-day event marking the 650th anniversary of the city’s founding. Police say the attack happened close to the stage where a musical act was performing.

Eyewitness Lars Breitzke said the attack happened just meters away from him. Speaking to local newspaper the Solinger Tageblatt, Breitzke said he realized something was wrong by the expression on the face of the singer on stage. Then, he said, “a person just meters away from me fell down.”

German DJ Topic was performing nearby and wrote on his Instagram he was asked to keep performing “to avoid causing a mass panic.” Topic added that he and others then hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that I find very upsetting,” he wrote on X. “An assassin has brutally killed several people.”

Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said authorities were “doing everything they can to apprehend the perpetrator and determine the background to the attack.”

The city’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach, said: “This evening, all of us in Solingen are experiencing shock, horror, and great sadness.”

“We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured,” he wrote on Solingen’s Facebook page.

Images and footage from the scene on Friday showed several ambulances and police officers, as well as a helicopter flying overhead.

According to the festival’s website, Friday was the start of the three-day “Festival of Diversity,” which would include music, food, performances, and family-friendly entertainment.

Bergisch Symphony Orchestra, the shared orchestra for the cities of Solingen and Remscheid, was scheduled to play on the main stage on Friday.

Friday’s attack comes amid rising rates of knife crime in Germany, recently prompting Interior Minister Faeser to propose tightened laws to tackle the issue.

Police data shows that there were 8,951 incidents of knife crime that caused serious bodily harm in Germany in 2023 – 791 cases more than the previous year.

-CNN