Three people were killed and four others were seriously injured in a knife attack at a festival on Friday night (August 23rd) in the western German city of Solingen, police said.
They said that around 22:00 p.m. a single, unidentified man attacked multiple people and that the perpetrator was still at large.
"It breaks my heart that there was an attack in our city. I have tears in my eyes when I think of those we have lost," Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach said in a statement. "I pray for all those who are still fighting for their lives."
Fatal stabbings and shootings in Germany are relatively rare. Police said the attack happened at a festival to honor the city's 650th anniversary.
Solingen is in the state of Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state and on the border with the Netherlands. The state's interior minister, Herbert Reul, visited the scene, telling reporters it was a targeted attack on human life but refusing to speculate on a motive.
The attack took place in the Fronhof, the mayor's statement said, a market square where several bands were playing.
