The attacker fled the scene and is being sought. The attack took place in the city center square in Fronhof near the main stage.
One woman and two men were killed in the attack. Of the eight injured people, five were seriously injured.
A “celebration of diversity” marking the city’s 650th anniversary began on Friday and was scheduled to last until Sunday. Stages were set up in the streets of the city center offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatic performances.
“Tonight, all of us in Solingen are in shock. We all wanted to celebrate our city’s anniversary together, but now we have to mourn the dead and injured,” the city’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach, said on Facebook after the attack.
Solingen, with a population of about 160,000, is located near the major cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf.
The police are actively looking for the attacker and have called on residents who notice something suspicious not to do anything themselves, but to report it to the police immediately. A description of the suspect has not been released, and police do not know where he may be, a police spokesman said.
The attacker managed to escape, taking advantage of the panic that broke out in the crowd immediately after the attack.
The police said that the attacker apparently chose the victims at random, without sorting them. However, the Ministry of the Interior revealed that the attacker apparently aimed at people’s necks.
What the eyewitnesses told led the police to conclude that the attacker acted alone. Police have asked people to upload all videos and photos from the incident to a website created especially for this occasion.
Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Fesser, had recently proposed tightening gun laws, allowing only knives with a blade no longer than six centimeters to be carried in public. Currently, it is allowed to carry knives with a blade length of up to 12 centimeters.
2024-08-25 15:45:12