German police arrest suspect who allegedly stabbed three people at a music festival

CNN
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German police have arrested a suspect accused of stabbing three people to death at a music festival in the western city of Solingen on Friday, an attack that sent shockwaves across the country.

The suspect was arrested at a refugee shelter after authorities launched “extensive search measures” and deployed special forces across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Police had previously arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the incident but said he was not the suspected attacker.

“We have now arrested the actual suspect. And now he is being questioned and everything else will be clarified and then we can say: Are we right? Do we have enough evidence? I can only tell you that it is now more than just a guess,” North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul told ARD on Sunday.

“Not only did we have a lead on this person, we also found evidence,” he added.

Before the suspect was arrested, the population of Solingen was asked to be cautious and vigilant because the perpetrator was on the run. Hours after the attack, the authorities were unable to paint a clear picture of what the suspect might look like.

According to current information, the dead are two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman. Eight other people were injured, four of whom are in critical condition.

A motive for the attack has not yet been determined, but Terrorism cannot be ruled out.

Although the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq intelligence service, it did not provide any evidence to support its claim.

Police spokesman Thorsten Fleiß said the attacker had specifically targeted his victims' necks. “After evaluating the first images, we assume that it was a very targeted attack on the neck,” he said during a press conference.

In the attack on a central square in Solingen on Friday evening, about 25 kilometers east of Düsseldorf, several people were apparently stabbed at random, police said.

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.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack as a “shocking” and “terrible” event.

Friday's attack came amid rising levels of knife crime in Germany, which recently prompted the Interior Ministry 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 is a developing story and will be updated.