German mass shooting: suspected Solingen attacker arrested, authorities say

A man suspected of a knife attack in the western German city of Solingen has been arrested, police and government officials said, after Friday’s attack that left three people dead and eight injured. .

On Sunday morning, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement that the suspect in custody was a 26-year-old Syrian man who posed as himself.

“The involvement of this person is currently under serious investigation,” they said.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, told ARD radio late on Saturday that authorities had spent the day after the “arson” that led to their arrest.

Police had previously arrested two people who may not have been the perpetrators, Reul said. He said: “The real suspect is the one we have arrested now.” That person was being questioned, and evidence was taken.

German police said they had not ruled out a “terrorist target” after a number of people were stabbed at a party on Friday night.

In a press conference on Saturday, police said they arrested a 15-year-old boy at his parents’ home in the early hours of Saturday morning on suspicion of failing to report a crime. Public prosecutor Markus Caspers said of the 15-year-old that he was accused of talking to the perpetrator “before the crime”.

The second arrest was made following a police operation at a refugee home in Solingen, a police spokesman said. They said they could not provide any further information about the person or the connection to the alleged incident.

Caspers said that “terrorist intent” cannot be ruled out, partly because the suspect does not appear to know his victims.

A woman, 56, and two men, 56 and 67, all from the area, were killed in the attack Friday night, authorities said. Eight other people were injured, four of them seriously.

Police recovered at least one weapon that may have been used in the alleged attack and are testing it for DNA. They said they had no indication in the run-up to the event that there was a security threat.

People started leaving flowers and candles to thank the victims at the scene of the attack in central Solingen.

Authorities have set up a website where people can post pictures or information about the alleged attack as well as a mobile phone line, and are urging witnesses not to post relevant videos directly to social media. public affairs.

The victim used a knife to attack a crowd of thousands who had gathered for a party in Solingen’s central square on Friday night. The shocking attack, which took place at a festival of sorts during celebrations to celebrate the city’s 650th anniversary, lasted a few minutes, witnesses said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has been under pressure to combat a rise in knife violence in cities, said on Saturday he was “horrified” by the “terrible incident” and stood with the city. scared to cry for the victims.

“I wish the injured a speedy recovery,” he said in letter X. “The criminal must be caught quickly and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

The authorities sent a “large court”, including helicopters, to search for the man’s assailant who allegedly fled the area, and set up checkpoints.

Reul, the interior minister of Germany’s most populous region, earlier warned against speculation about the alleged perpetrator’s background. “You don’t want to believe what you see here at the crime scene. It’s annoying,” said Reul.

“Suddenly someone stabs people indiscriminately. We are not going to say anything about the person or the motive at this time,” he said regarding the allegations.

The mass attack happened at a festival that was due to continue until Sunday, attracting around 25,000 people each day with a program that includes live bands, cabaret acts, acrobats and children’s entertainment. The remainder of the festival has now been cancelled, as have weekend celebrations in nearby towns.

A large crowd gathered around the stage with great music in the Fronhof market square in the center of the city. Most of the injured are believed to have been attacked directly in front of the stage, the Bild daily newspaper reported, adding that the suspect appeared to be aiming for the throat of his victims.

German DJ Topic, from Solingen, said in an Instagram post that he was performing on stage when security staff approached him and informed him of the attack.

He was asked to go ahead “to avoid causing too much panic”, he said. So I continued to play even though it was very difficult. He said he was told to stop 10-15 minutes later, and “as the attacker was running away, we hid in a nearby shop while police helicopters circled on us,” he wrote.

“I still can’t believe it… this was supposed to be a free party for all. My closest friends were there with their young children,” he said in a video recorded in his childhood bedroom. “What is happening in this world… my thoughts are with all the victims.”

Sascha Mosig, who was on his first night working for a security firm at the festival, said he immediately saw a group of people running his way, some of them covered in blood. Another shouted, “Knife.”

The 37-year-old told the weekly newspaper Die Zeit that he went to the main square to help and saw lifeless bodies on the ground and people in fear.

He said: “There was blood everywhere.” “You know these war pictures. This was one. ”

Another witness, Lars Breitzke, told the local newspaper Solinger Tageblatt that he was a few meters from the attack, near the stage, and “he understood from the singer’s face that there was and something is wrong”.

“And then, a meter away from me, someone fell,” said Breitzke, who at first thought it was someone drunk. But when he looked back, he saw other people lying on the ground and several pools of blood, he added.

Solingen has a population of around 160,000 and is close to the major cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf.

Germany has experienced a spate of knife attacks in the past 12 months, with Faeser pledging earlier this month to crack down on knife crime through a revised weapons law.