A knife attack during a festival in the western German city of Solingen left three people died and five others were seriously injured on Friday nightwhich sparked a massive manhunt for the suspect, who remains at large.
The incident occurred around 10:00 PM local time (4:00 PM EST), during a celebration of the city’s 650th anniversaryreported BBC News.
A a large crowd had gathered in the Fronhof marketplace to hear live music, when witnesses reported a man randomly stabbing people. Some victims suffered life-threatening injuries, with local shops reporting that the attacker was targeting people’s necks.
The authorities quickly launched a major operation to try to apprehend the suspect, deploying some 40 tactical vehicles and heavily armed units across Solingen.
Philipp Müller, one of the organizers of the festival, said paramedics fought to save the lives of nine people. “People are shocked, but they left the square in peace,” Müller said. The rest of the festival, which would have taken place over the weekend, is now cancelled.
Eyewitness Lars Breitzke told local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt that he realized something was wrong when he saw a singer on stage with a strange expression on his face. A moment later, he saw someone collapse just a meter away from him.
Breitzke said at first he thought the person was drunk, but then turned around and saw people lying in pools of blood.
Solingen, located near Cologne and Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, is a city with approximately 160,000 inhabitants. As the investigation continues, the motive behind the attack remains unclear. North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene and stressed that “nothing can be said about the person or the motive” at this time.