A 26-year-old man has been taken into police custody in connection with a stabbing spree in the western German town of Solingen, which resulted in the deaths of three individuals, according to Der Spiegel and other news sources. The arrest occurred approximately 24 hours after the attack.
Authorities have not yet commented on the details of the arrest. Earlier, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which also injured eight others.
On Saturday, police made a second arrest at a refugee shelter in Solingen, though details about the individual’s involvement and connection to the attack were not disclosed. A teenager was also detained for potential links to the incident, but the primary suspect remains at large.
The Islamic State described the attacker as a “soldier of the Islamic State” and stated that the assault was carried out in retaliation for Muslims in Palestine and other regions. The group did not provide evidence to support this claim, and the connection between the attacker and the Islamic State is unclear.
Hendrik Wuest, the Premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, labeled the attack, which occurred during a festival, as an act of terrorism. “This attack has struck at the heart of our country,” Wuest remarked to reporters.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser emphasized that authorities were doing everything possible to apprehend the attacker. Police have been conducting an extensive manhunt, and the detained teenager, aged 15, is being investigated for possible connections to the assailant.
The attack took place at Fronhof, a market square in Solingen, where a festival celebrating the city’s 650th anniversary was underway. Markus Caspers, a public prosecutor’s office official, noted that authorities are treating the incident as a potential terrorist act due to the lack of other known motives and the seeming randomness of the victims.
Police described the assailant as targeting the victims’ necks. Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for the attacker to be captured and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The police cordoned off the area, and bystanders placed candles and flowers outside the barriers. Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach expressed shock and grief over the incident.
German musician Topic, who was performing nearby, initially continued playing to prevent panic but was later told to stop. He and others took refuge in a nearby store while police helicopters searched the area.
Authorities have canceled the remainder of the weekend festival. Fatal stabbings and shootings are uncommon in Germany, and the government had recently proposed stricter regulations on knives.
Earlier this month, a police officer was fatally stabbed during a right-wing demonstration in Mannheim, and a 2021 train stabbing injured several people. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul described the Solingen attack as a targeted assault on human life.
Solingen, known for its knife manufacturing, has a population of approximately 165,000. The incident comes ahead of upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg, where the anti-immigrant far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to be a significant player. Although the motive and identity of the attacker remain unclear, AfD candidate Bjoern Hoecke used the attack to criticize multiculturalism, calling for an end to what he described as forced diversity.