Knife attack in Solingen: Manhunt in Germany after three dead at festival

CNN
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A major manhunt is underway in Germany after an attacker stabbed three people and seriously injured several others at a folk festival in the western city of Solingen on Friday evening.

An unknown assailant armed with a knife randomly attacked several people in a central square in the city, about 25 kilometers east of Düsseldorf, German police said. Eight people were injured in the attack, five of them seriously, police added.

A single male suspect was still at large on Saturday morning and special forces were actively searching for him, police said. Solingen residents were urged to be cautious and remain vigilant.

Little is known about the attacker. Police do not have a detailed description of the suspect and are seeking more information to aid their search. A police spokesman, Alexander Kresta, said the lack of information about the suspect was a “major problem,” German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported.

There is no indication of a motive yet. However, when asked by reporters whether it was a terrorist attack, a police spokesman replied: “That would be pure speculation. I cannot say at the moment.”

On Friday, crowds gathered in the square in Solingen to celebrate the “Festival of Diversity,” a three-day event marking the 650th anniversary of the city's founding. Police say the attack occurred near the stage where a music act was performing.

Eyewitness Lars Breitzke said the attack happened just a few meters away from him. Breitzke told the Solinger Tageblatt that he noticed something was wrong from the singer's facial expression on stage. Then, he said, “a person fell down just a few meters away from me.”

German DJ Topic was performing nearby and wrote on Instagram that he was asked to continue performing “to avoid mass panic.” Topic added that he and others then hid in a nearby shop while police helicopters circled overhead.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack.

“The attack in Solingen is a terrible incident that has shocked me deeply,” he wrote on X. “An assassin murdered several people in the most brutal way.”

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the authorities would “do everything in their power to arrest the perpetrator and clarify the background to the attack.”

Mayor Tim Kurzbach said: “All of us in Solingen are experiencing shock, horror and great sadness this evening.”

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

Pictures and footage from the crime scene on Friday showed several ambulances and police officers as well as a helicopter flying over the heads of the occupants.

According to the festival's website, the three-day “Festival of Diversity,” which includes music, food, performances and family-friendly entertainment, began Friday.

On Friday, the Bergische Symphoniker, the joint orchestra of the cities of Solingen and Remscheid, were supposed to play on the main stage.

Friday's attack came against a backdrop of rising knife crime rates in Germany, which recently prompted Interior Minister Faeser to propose tougher laws to combat the problem.

According to police figures, there were 8,951 knife crimes involving serious bodily harm in Germany in 2023 – 791 more cases than in the previous year.

This story has been updated with additional information. Reporting by CNN's Melissa Gray.