Manhunt after three killed in knife attack at diversity festival in Germany
German police were on Saturday night hunting for a knifeman who deliberately cut at his victims’ necks in a suspected terror attack at a diversity festival that left three people dead.
Special police units scoured the western city of Solingen after the stabbing rampage on Friday night, in which eight people were also wounded.
Hendrik Wüst, the premier of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, described the attack as an “act of terror”.
Authorities said they were investigating terrorism as a potential motive, partly given a lack of alternatives, as the search for the suspect extended for more than 24 hours.
Police said they had arrested a 15-year-old in connection with the attack, with the youth accused of failing to report a planned crime.
Officers said they had reviewed social media footage of the violence and that the killer would face eight charges of attempted murder, as well as three charges of murder.
“After evaluating the initial images, we are assuming that it was a very targeted attack on the neck,” said police director Thorsten Fleiß at a press conference.
Chief public prosecutor Markus Caspers said terrorism could not be ruled out because there was no other known motive and because the victims seemed unrelated.
Mr Caspers said two witnesses had overheard a conversation between the youth, who was arrested on Saturday morning, and another person shortly before the stabbings.
It is unclear if the other person was the suspect but police acted after the witnesses reported what they had heard to investigators.
“The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media.
Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, the mayor of Solingen, famous for its knife-manufacturing industry, told reporters near the scene of the attack that “what happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep”.
Police said the situation was fluid and they were chasing “many leads”.
They said in a statement: “Various police measures, including searches at various locations, are being carried out in parallel.
“Investigations and searches for possible further perpetrators and reasons for the offence are in full swing.”
Officers have seized several knives and are investigating whether they are the murder weapon. The Bild newspaper reported the murder weapon had been found about 200 metres from where the attack took place.
Despite the killer still being at large, Wuppertal police chief Markus Röhrl said he would not recommend the public locking themselves up at home.
He said: “Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they go to festivities, whether they go to football matches, whether they use public transport. The consequence of saying no to all of this would be that they would have to lock themselves in their homes. I can’t recommend that to anyone. Quite the opposite.”
Interior minister Nancy Faeser said security authorities were doing everything they could to catch the assailant and investigate the attack, which took place in the Fronhof, a market square in Solingen where live bands were playing.
The city was hosting a festival marking its 650th anniversary in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands.
Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers.
“We are full of shock and grief,” Mr Kurzbach told journalists.
The German musician who goes by the name Topic said he was playing on a nearby stage.
He was told about what had happened but was asked to keep playing “to avoid causing a mass panic attack”, he posted on Instagram.
He was eventually told to stop, and “since the attacker was still on the run, we hid in a nearby store while police helicopters circled above us”, Topic wrote.
Authorities cancelled the remainder of the weekend festival in Solingen, a city of some 165,000 people located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf.
The attack came before three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the anti-immigrant far-Rght Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning.
Though the motive and identity of the assailant were not known, a top AfD candidate for one of the state elections, Björn Höcke, seized on Friday’s attack.
He posted on X: “Do you really want to get used to this? Free yourselves and end this insanity of forced multiculturalism.”
02:01 AM BST
We’re pausing our live coverage
We’re pausing our live coverage of the attack in Germany – but this article will be updated frequently with the latest news.
01:32 AM BST
Armed special police on the scene
Germany’s armed special police officers have been deployed to assist at the scene in Solingen.
01:07 AM BST
Official: Six people have been injured
The region’s top security official, Herbert Reul, said the number of people injured could be six.
Mr Reul visited the scene in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“None of us knows why” the attack took place, said Mr Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.
“I can’t say anything about the motive now” he said, adding that it is not clear who the assailant was,
The attacker left the scene “relatively quickly”, Mr Reul said.
01:00 AM BST
‘At least three fighting for their lives’
An editor at the local newspaper in Solingen has described the chaos that unfolded when the stabbings began in front of the stages.
Bjorn Boch, who is deputy editor-in-chief of Solinger Tageblatt, said he suspects at least six people are “seriously injured”.
“At least three probably fighting for their lives, three others heavily injured,” he told the BBC. “It’s a tragedy. It’s terrible”.
He added: “People were running away from the scene. Many were very calm so we didn’t have to panic but it was shocking and everybody who had to see that - I can’t imagine what that was like.”
12:49 AM BST
Pictured: Forensics teams search for clues
12:18 AM BST
Police looking for lone suspect
Police in Germany say that the perpetrator of the attack in Solingen is still on the run, and that they so far have only very thin information on the assailant.
They believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.
11:49 PM BST
‘An act of brutal and senseless violence’
State Premier Hendrik Wüst says North Rhine-Westphalia “is united in shock and grief”.
In these dark hours, the people of our state and beyond are with Solingen with their hearts and thoughts. An act of brutal and senseless violence has struck our state to the heart. The whole of North Rhine-Westphalia stands by the people of Solingen, especially the victims and their families. A big thank you goes to the many rescue workers and our police who are fighting for people’s lives at this very moment.”
11:46 PM BST
Pictured: Tents set up in city square
11:33 PM BST
Attack ‘being treated as terror’
The man is said to have directly stabbed his victims’ necks with the knife, so investigators are classifying the crime as a terrorist attack, Bild reports.
11:20 PM BST
I saw pools of blood, says eyewitness
Eyewitness Lars Breitzke told the Solinger Tageblatt that he was standing in front of the stage on the Fronhof, the city’s central square, when the crime apparently occurred a few metres away from him.
He saw a shocked expression on singer Suzan Töpfer’s face and then he says “a person fell over just a metre next to me.”
At first he thought they were drunk but when he turned around, he saw more people lying on the ground, and pools of blood.
11:18 PM BST
Three people confirmed dead
At least three people are confirmed to have been killed in the stabbing attack in Solingen.
The German interior ministry confirmed that multiple people have been injured and the suspect is still at large.
11:09 PM BST
Mayor: ‘City is in horror’
The Mayor of Solingen says his city is in “shock, horror and great sadness”.
Tim Kurzbach, of the Social Democrats, posted on Facebook: “We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together and now we have dead and injured people to mourn.”
11:04 PM BST
‘People are shocked’, says festival organiser
Armed officers and a police helicopter have been deployed and thousands of partygoers were peacefully evacuated from the festival in Solingen.
The festival’s co-organiser, Philipp Muller, said “people are shocked but left the square peacefully”.
Celine Derikart, a local reporter, said the atmosphere around the city was “spooky”.
80,000 people had been expected at the festival over the weekend.
10:57 PM BST
Festival performances cancelled after stabbing
Two DJs who were set to perform at the festival on Friday said their set had been cancelled because of the attack.
“Beyond devastated,” they posted on X/Twitter.
“Our show in our beloved hometown #solingen got canceled last minute. Several people got stabbed.
“Stay safe everyone!”
10:57 PM BST
Where is Solingen?
Solingen is a city in west Germany with about 160,000 inhabitants.
It lies about 15 miles (25 km) east of Düsseldorf and north east of Cologne.
The festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday.
10:47 PM BST
At least three dead, German media reports
The German newspaper Bild is reporting that the suspect stabbed people at random at the festival in Solingen.
Bild reports that at least three people were dead and multiple people have been wounded.
It also reports the incident happened at around 21:45 local time (20:45 BST), and that witnesses say the attacker was still at large.
10:40 PM BST
No arrests made yet, say police
The attacker is believed to have fled the scene, and police have launched a manhunt. Police helicopters were seen hovering above the city, according to reports.
10:39 PM BST
The scene in pictures
10:37 PM BST
Emergency workers treating ‘nine people’
The local Solinger Tageblatt newspaper reported that authorities called on people to leave downtown Solingen and that one of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, said on a stage that emergency workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.
The dpa report cited unidentified police sources as saying the weapon was believed to be a knife and no one had yet been arrested. The attack happened on a central square, the Fronhof.
The festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday.
Solingen has about 160,000 inhabitants and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.
10:31 PM BST
Breaking: Knife attack in Germany
Several people are understood to have been killed with more hurt in the attack in Solingen.
Follow the latest news in our live blog.
