Search continues for attacker who killed three and left eight people injured at German festival

A 15-year-old was arrested earlier today who is believed to have spoken to the killer before the attack.

LAST UPDATE | 24 Aug 2024

POLICE IN GERMANY are continuing to search for the killer following the murder of three people at a German street festival yesterday.

Earlier today police arrested one person in connection with the attack in which three people were killed and at least eight others injured in the city of Solingen in western Germany. Four of the eight injured are in a serious condition.

A spokesperson for the police confirmed that a 15-year-old had been arrested for not reporting an impending crime. It is believed that the suspect spoke to the boy of the attack.

Police say that a manhunt is still ongoing for the attacker, and that they have not established a clear motive as of yet. However, they have not ruled terrorism as a motive.

The three people who died were two men aged 67 and 56 and a woman aged 56, authorities said.

Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims’ throats.

Various searches and investigations by police in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia will continue throughout the day.

Police told people to stay vigilant even as wellwishers started to leave flowers at the scene.

people-lay-flowers-near-the-scene-of-a-knife-attack-in-solingen-city-center-germany-saturday-aug-24-2024-after-three-people-were-killed-and-at-least-eight-people-were-wounded-friday-night-at-the People lay flowers near the scene of the knife attack Alamy Alamy

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that the perpetrator of the attack must be caught quickly and punished with the full force of the law.

“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,” Mr Scholz said on X, formerly Twitter.

‘A person fell’

People alerted police shortly after 9.30pm on Friday to an unknown attacker having wounded several people with a knife on a central square, the Fronhof.

Police said they believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker and gave no information about the identities of the victims.

Witness Lars Breitzke told the Solinger Tageblatt newspaper he was a few metres from the attack, not far from the festival stage, and “understood from the expression on the singer’s face that something was wrong”.

“And then, a metre away from me, a person fell,” said Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone who had too much to drink.

When he turned around, he saw other people lying on the ground amid pools of blood.

‘Brutal and senseless’

In a statement posted online, Tim-Oliver Kurzbach, mayor of Solingen, said the whole city was in “shock, horror and great grief”.

“We all wanted to celebrate our town’s anniversary together and now we have to mourn the dead and injured,” he said.

The festival marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was supposed to run until Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. It was cancelled following the attack.

Solingen has around 160,000 inhabitants and is located near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf.