At least three dead and eight injured in knife attack on German festival

According to authorities, at least three people were killed and eight others seriously injured in an attack on a folk festival in Solingen.

Witnesses alerted the police shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Friday that an unknown perpetrator had injured several people with a knife in the central square, where musicians were performing on a stage to celebrate the city's 650th anniversary.

As local media reported, the attacker stabbed several people at random.

Police confirmed that the suspect is on the run and a manhunt has been launched.

One of the festival organizers, Philipp Müller, appeared on stage and urged festival-goers to “stay calm and keep their eyes open, because unfortunately the perpetrator has not yet been caught.” He said many people had been injured by “a knife attacker.”

“All of us in Solingen are in shock this evening. We wanted to celebrate our city's birthday together and now we have dead and injured people to mourn,” said Mayor Tim Kurzbach in a Facebook post.

“It breaks my heart that there has been an attack on our city,” he added.

The region's top security official, Herbert Reul, announced the number of injured during his visit early Saturday morning. Five injured people had already been reported previously.

“None of us knows why” the attack took place, said Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.

“I cannot say anything about the motive at this point.” It is unclear who the perpetrator was, but the attacker left the crime scene “relatively quickly.”

Festival of Diversity

The Festival of Diversity to mark the city's 650th anniversary began on Friday and was scheduled to last until Sunday, but has now been cancelled.

Several stages in the central streets of the city offered attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics.

Solingen has about 160,000 inhabitants and is located near Cologne and Düsseldorf.

The highest German security official, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, recently proposed tightening the gun law. In future, carrying knives in public should only be permitted with a blade length of up to six centimeters, instead of the current maximum of twelve centimeters.