General
What We Know About the Knife Attack in Germany That Killed 3
The police have launched a manhunt for the perpetrator, who stabbed people at a city festival before slipping away.
German police are hunting for a man who on Friday night attacked nearly a dozen people with a knife, killing three, during a street festival in the western city of Solingen. The police have interviewed witnesses and survivors, but so far have not divulged the man’s motive, if they know it.
On Saturday, the police said they had detained a man for questioning whom they believed might have knowledge about the attacker. They said they did not think the man in custody was the attacker.
What happened?
Shortly before 10 p.m., the attacker started stabbing people who had gathered at the public festival to celebrate Solingen’s 650th anniversary. The attacks occurred during a live music performance, not far from a temporary stage set up for the event, which was billed as a “Festival of Diversity.” The police said it appeared that the attacker chose victims from the crowd at random.
The festival, which was planned to run through Sunday, was immediately canceled as emergency workers tended to the injured and the police tried to get a handle on the situation.
Besides the three people who died of their injuries, another eight were injured. Of those, five remain in critical condition.
What’s next?
“Our authorities are doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and to determine the background of the attack,” Nancy Faeser, Germany’s interior minister, said in a statement on Saturday. Officers from neighboring areas have been brought in to try to help the local police find the attacker.
