Police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with a fatal knife attack in the west German city of Solingen.
Two men, aged 56 and 67, and a 56 year-old woman died in the attack in Solingen on Friday, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called a “horrific act”.
The boy is not the main suspect but is alleged to have known about the attack beforehand.
At a news conference yesterday, officers said terrorism was not being ruled out as a motive, and that searches for the attacker were taking place across the country.
The 15-year-old connected to the case was detained this morning after two women reported overhearing a conversation between him and a second person in which they discussed the attack, the police said.
While he remains in custody, investigators are still trying to establish exactly who carried out the attack.
The suspect’s motive is unknown but police said they cannot rule out that this was a “terrorist-motivated offence”.
Police said there was no specific terror threat before the festival and there was not a large security zone in place.
Chief of police Markus Röhrl urged people not to speculate on social media and appealed to the public for more information.
Police also revealed that they found “multiple knives” and were looking into whether one of them was involved in the attack.
The attacker reportedly stabbed passers-by “at random” during a festival to celebrate 650 years since the industrial city of Solingen was founded.
The situation on the ground after the attack was “very hectic”, which made it difficult to find a perpetrator, police said.
Police confirmed that the attacker “targeted” people’s throats and necks.
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the assailant must be caught quickly and punished to fullest extent of the law.
Interior minister Nancy Faeser expressed her condolences, saying security authorities are “doing everything they can to catch the perpetrator and determine the background of the attack”.
Solingen – a city in North Rhineland-Westphalia, which is famous for its steel industry – has about 160,000 inhabitants. It lies about 15 miles (25 km) east of Düsseldorf.
