German police launch manhunt for knifeman who killed three people at festival

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German authorities have described a knife attack in the western town of Solingen on Friday night that left three people dead as an act of terrorism, while police are still searching for the perpetrators.

Hendrik Wüst, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is located, said the attack struck at the heart of his region and was “an act of terrorism aimed at disrupting our way of life”.

Police said the incident occurred at around 9:40 p.m. Friday when an unidentified attacker attacked several people with a knife at a festival in the town center of Solingen, killing three people and injuring eight, five of them seriously.

The perpetrator fled the scene, sparking a massive manhunt. Roads in the town of 150,000 people were cordoned off and residents were told to stay away from the town centre, local media reported.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, speaking alongside Wüst, said society must come together in the face of such incidents. “In times like these, we cannot allow ourselves to be divided,” she said.

Police said Saturday they had arrested a man and were investigating him for possible links to the incident. They later said he was not the perpetrator; police suspect he knew about the attack in advance but did not report it to authorities.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was “shocked to the core” by the attack. “An attacker has brutally murdered many people,” he wrote on X. “We grieve for the victims and stand with their families… The perpetrator must be apprehended and punished with the full force of the law.”

Herbert Reul, the region’s interior minister, arrived at the scene late on Friday night and told reporters: “You cannot accept what you are seeing at the scene – it is truly tragic.”

He said he would like to send his condolences to the families of the victims and those injured in the attack.

Solingen Mayor Tim Kurzbach on Facebook: “Tonight, all of us in Solingen are in shock. Horrified and deeply saddened.”

“We hope that the emergency services will succeed in saving the lives of the injured and in capturing the cowardly and pitiful perpetrator who is still on the run,” Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote on X.

Solingen was holding a “Diversity Festival” over the weekend to celebrate its 650th birthday when the attacker struck. About 80,000 people were expected to attend the three-day event, which included concerts, comedy, acrobatics and children’s entertainment.

The attack happened in front of the stage where the bands were performing. The festival was immediately cancelled and police asked visitors to provide them with photos and videos of the event.

The incident comes at a time of growing concern about knife crime in Germany. Faeser has recently proposed tighter regulations on knife ownership, reducing the maximum blade length that can be carried in public.

In June one the police are dead after dying from injuries sustained in a knife attack by an Afghan national during a right-wing protest in the southwestern city of Mannheim.

Later that month, a 27-year-old Afghan man in the eastern German town of Wolmirstedt was shot dead by police after he stabbed one man to death and then injured several others at a private outdoor party during the Euro soccer tournament.