Three people were killed and at least four were seriously injured in a knife attack on Friday at a festival in the western German city of Solingen, police said.
Witnesses alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. that an unknown assailant stabbed several people in a central square, the Fronhof. Police said the shooter was on the run and that so far they had very little information about the shooter.
One of the organizers of the festival, Philip Müllerappeared on stage and asked the festival goers to “go quietly. please keep your eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator has not been caught.” He said many people were injured by a “stabster”.
At least one helicopter was seen in the air, several police and emergency vehicles with blue lights flashing were on the road and several roads were closed.
Mayor Tim Kurtzbach said in a Facebook post that “tonight, we in Solingen are all in shock. We all wanted to celebrate our city's anniversary together and now we have dead and wounded to mourn.”
“It breaks my heart that an attack happened in our city,” he added.
Local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt quoted Celine Derikartz, its reporter covering the festival, as saying that “the atmosphere is terrifying”. She said the party atmosphere had turned to shock within minutes and she saw festival-goers in tears.
The 'Festival of Diversity', marking the city's 650th anniversary, started on Friday and was due to run until Sunday, with several stages in main streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.
Solingen has approximately 160,000 inhabitants and is close to the larger cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Germany's top security official, interior minister Nancy Feserrecently proposed stricter gun laws to allow only knives with blades up to 6 centimeters (nearly 2.4 inches) to be carried in public, rather than the 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) length that is now allowed .
This story was originally published by the Associated Press.
