A fatal stabbing attack at a German “Festival of Diversity” kills 3 and leaves 5 critically injured.
Apparently the attacker got away? That’s absolutely wild. How do you stab multiple people to death in broad view of hundreds of people and then just slip away? Terrifying.
Once you run a bit into a mostly dense crowd, nobody where you are saw what you did, and nobody where you did it can see where you are.
Assuming you’re not covered in blood and not still waving the knife, to everyone around you now you’re just a guy running for no obvious reason. Who, if he’s smart, will pretty quickly switch to fast walk, slow walk, then saunter along with everyone else, being just another nondescript face in a crowd of thousands.
The only way a runner gets caught is if someone can give chase from the scene and not lose sight until they can attract some cops’
attention to join the chase. Or if there’s real-time vid surveillance at the festival security command post tracking the perp’s every move. Or the perp is so blood-covered, or injured themselves, that they create fresh alarm in most everyone who sees them.
This happened only 80 km away from where I live, and the whole state of North-Rhine-Westphalia is in shock. There are always many summer festivals at this time of the year, but many neighboring cities and towns have immediately cancelled their own events, rather out of respect for the victims than for security reasons (though that is a factor too since the killer is still on the loose). What’s monstrously ironic is the fact that Solingen is known as “Klingenstadt” (Blade City) because it’s world-famous for their knife industry (though mostly kitchen knives, not weapons. But of course you can easily kill people with a kitchen knife).
German police detain individual after festival stabbing that killed 3
Police hunting for an unknown assailant hours after he killed three people and wounded eight in a stabbing attack at a festival in the western German city of Solingen said on Saturday they had detained an individual.
Police said in the afternoon they were investigating whether there was a possible link to the attack.
So it is possible they arrested the right guy–but not definite yet.
Update: there was an arrest in Düsseldorf, but I’s still unknown if the suspect was involved in the attack. In the meantime, the murder weapon was found in a trash bin in Solingen.
ETA: ninja’d. I’m right now watching a press conference by the police and the DA’s office.
ETA2: holy shit, the suspect is only 15 years old. Dammit.
ETA3: correction, the DA just reported that the 15 year old arrested boy is only suspected for not reporting a crime, allegedly the assaillant had talked to the boy about his plans before the attack.
Well, that means they at least have an idea of who the perpetrator is, I hope?
I’m sorry to hear this happened so close to you, stay safe and hopefully they catch this guy ASAP.
Yes, seems so, further into the press conference it was hinted at (by inquiring journalists) that witnesses have reported two possible perpetrators and that one of them is the 15 year old. The police is inspecting the boy’s environment and seems to have an idea who the other perp is. I’m expecting another arrest in the next few hours.
ETA: and thanks for your sympathy. I don’t feel personally threatened at the moment, I live in a small village, but nonetheless it’s shocking when such things happen so close to oneself.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
A suspect that police had looked for this whole day has been arrested
(just a German language source for now, sorry)
He is a 26 year old Syrian refugee, who had no record as an extremist.
According to other reports police the knife used had been found in a trash bin, and a police dog followed the trail to a nearby refugee dormitory.
Well dammit all around, besides the tragedy, this will be a field day for the AfD concerning the elections next week. Fuck it, fuck this crazy world.
ETA: but I’m glad they got him.
Things got crazy enough in the UK after a stabbing by a guy who was not actually a religious fanatics and a refugee; a similar attack by someone who actually is… Yikes.
Such an attack hits the country hard because such festivals are a common feature of summers in midsize German cities - crowds, music, bratwurst, beer/wine in the maketplace and/or pedestrian zone. In this case the occasion was the 650th anniversary of city rights for Solingen, but we’ll take any pretext, really. Not to speak of the Christmas markets.
Everyone recollects the crush of the crowd on such an occasion, and now it’s always the mental image of someone suddenly taking out a kitchen knife out of a rucksack or bag. Something that cannot be prevented as searches on entering a city center simply are not practicable (and if there were, there are always household good shops with kitchen knives in the shelves).
We thought we were safe when strong bollards were put up at the entrances of pedestrian zones…