On Friday at around 9:40 p.m. a man stabbed several attendees at a ‘Festival of Diversity’ (‘Festival der Vielfalt’) in Solingen, Germany. The perpetrator, who according to some witnesses “looked like an Arab,” is still at large as of Saturday morning, Bild reports. The police have urged the public not to speculate about the knifeman’s identity or motives and have not yet issued a description of the perpetrator. The police have appealed for information, including photos and videos, to be uploaded via the police information portal.
“According to current information, three people were killed and eight injured, five of them seriously, in the attack,” the police in Düsseldorf said in a press release on Saturday morning.
Following the deadly attack, the police union chief called on the public to refrain from speculation about the motive and origin of the perpetrator, especially on social media.
“Speculation about the crime in Solingen is forbidden. I appeal to everyone, especially to users of social media, to refrain from spreading rumors,” said the North Rhine-Westphalia head of the police union, Michael Mertens. “I am concerned that speculation is currently being spread via social networks.”
There is no concrete information about the perpetrator so far, Mertens stressed. “The witnesses’ descriptions of the person are partly contradictory. This is not surprising: people are in shock at what they have experienced. The police must now be able to do their work without disruption.”
The bloody attack took place in is the Fronhof, a busy square in the city center where the city’s ‘Festival of Diversity’ was held to mark the city of Solingen’s 650th anniversary.
The perpetrator is said to have attacked the visitors directly in front of the stage where live bands were playing. The victims are reported to be a woman and two men from Solingen and Düsseldorf.
Initial reports described the attacks as “randomly stabbing passers-by in the neck area,” but police spokesman Markus Seitz denied reports on Saturday morning that the perpetrator had deliberately stabbed his victims in the neck: “The police currently have no reliable evidence that he aimed the knife at his victims’ necks.”
Police spokesman Sascha Kresta said on Saturday night: “The attacker randomly stabbed people with a knife.” He continued: “A large-scale search for the attacker is underway. Investigations, evidence collection, and witness interviews are also underway.”
The city festival was canceled after the crime, and a police helicopter circled over the cordoned-off area during the night.
German interior minister Nancy Faester told the public, “Our security authorities are doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and determine the background to the attack. The brutal attack on the city festival in Solingen has shocked us deeply.”
Heavily armed special forces units with around 40 special vehicles from all over North Rhine-Westphalia also arrived in Solingen that night. Road intersections were closed, residents were asked to stay in their homes and avoid the city center. A makeshift situation center was set up in a café.
Thousands of visitors followed the request to leave the square quietly and not to panic. “People left the square in shock, but peacefully,” Philipp Müller, one of the co-organizers, told the press.
As the manhunt for the perpetrator is still underway, police have urged witnesses who may have seen something after the attack—particularly where the perpetrator might gone and whether he left the crime scene on foot, by bike, or in a car.
