A knife attack during a festival in the western German city of Solingen left three people dead and five others seriously injured on Friday evening, sparking a massive manhunt for the suspect, who remains at large.
The incident occurred around 10 p.m. local time (4 p.m. EST), during a celebration marking the city’s 650th anniversary, reported BBC News.
A large crowd had gathered at the Fronhof marketplace to hear live music, when witnesses reported a man randomly stabbing people. Some victims sustained life-threatening injuries, with local outlets reporting that the attacker was targeting people’s necks.
Authorities quickly launched a major operation to try to apprehend the suspect, deploying about 40 tactical vehicles and heavily armed units across Solingen.
Philipp Müller, one of the organizers of the festival, said paramedics were fighting to save the lives of nine people. “People are shocked, but they left the square peacefully,” Müller said. The rest of the festival, which was supposed to take place over the course of the weekend, has now been canceled.
Eyewitness Lars Breitzke told the local newspaper, Solinger Tageblatt, that he realized something was wrong when he saw a singer on stage with a strange expression on their face. Moments later, he witnessed someone collapse just a meter away from him.
Breitzke said at first, he thought the person was drunk, but then turned around and saw people lying in pools of blood.
Solingen, located near Cologne and Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, is a town of roughly 160,000. As the investigation continues, the motive behind the attack remains unclear. The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, visited the site and emphasized that “nothing can be said about the person or the motive” at this time.