Special police units on Saturday joined the search for an unknown man who carried out a stabbing attack at a crowded festival in the western German city of Solingen, killing three people and wounding at least eight others, four of them seriously.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested early on Saturday.
Police said he was suspected of knowing about the planned attack and not informing authorities, but he was not the attacker.
Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutor’s office, told a news conference on Saturday that authorities have not found the perpetrator.
“So far we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism, Mr Caspers said, though he did not offer further details.
Thorsten Fleiss from the German police, who was the chief of operations on Friday, said police are conducting various searches and investigations in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia that will continue throughout the day.
He said that it is a “big challenge” to bring together available evidence and testimony from witnesses in order to come up with a overall picture.
The three people who died were two men aged 67 and 56 and a woman aged 56, authorities said.
Police told people to stay vigilant even as wellwishers started to leave flowers at the scene.
Der Anschlag in Solingen ist ein schreckliches Ereignis, das mich sehr bestürzt. Ein Attentäter hat mehrere Menschen brutal getötet. Gerade habe ich mit Solingens Oberbürgermeister Tim Kurzbach telefoniert. Wir trauern um die Opfer und stehen an der Seite der Angehörigen. (1/2)
— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) August 24, 2024
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Authorities established an online portal where witnesses could upload footage and any other information relevant to the attack.
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.
“Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, said, speaking to reporters on Saturday near the scene of the attack.
The Festival of Diversity, 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.
The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours after the attack, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.
One of the festival organisers, Philipp Muller, appeared on stage on Friday and asked festivalgoers to “go calmly, please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator hasn’t been caught”.
Solingen has about 160,000 residents and is near the bigger cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf.
The rest of the festival was cancelled.
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.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to the mayor of Solingen on Saturday.
“The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart,” Mr Steinmeier said in a statement on Saturday.
“The perpetrator needs to be brought to justice. Let’s stand together — against hatred and violence.”
There has been concern about increased knife violence in Germany, and interior minister Nancy Faeser recently proposed toughening weapons laws to allow only knives with a blade measuring up to six centimetres to be carried in public, rather than the 12 centimetres that is currently allowed.
