Police in Germany say they have detained a 15-year-old suspect after a massive manhunt was launched for a male who stabbed and killed three people at a festival and left eight others injured.
The rampaging attacker struck at a ‘Festival of Diversity’ held to mark the 650-year-anniversary of the founding of the city of Solingen on Friday evening.
Police responded around 9.30pm after reports of an unidentified male stabbing people with a knife in the city’s central square, known as the Fronhof. The three people who died are two men aged 67 and 57, and a woman aged 56.
Specialist officers had been drafted in to assist in the search for the suspect who police said was not known to his victims, although no further description has been released and no motive has been ascertained as yet.
Investigators confirmed they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.
Focus.de reports at a press conference police said: “We assume that there is one perpetrator, but we are investigating in all directions. If there is increasing evidence of a terrorist crime, the Attorney General could take over the case.”
The mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, visited the site of the attack today and said: “Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the perpetrator of the attack must be caught quickly and punished with the full force of the law.
Posting on X, he wrote: “The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families.”
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to the mayor of Solingen on Saturday morning.
There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany, and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to six centimetres (nearly 2.4 inches) to be carried in public, rather than the length of 12 centimetres (4.7 inches) that is currently allowed.
The ‘Festival of Diversity’ marking the Solingen’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.
The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours after the attack, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.