A man suspected of killing three and injuring eight more in the city of Solingen was arrested late on Saturday, according to regional interior minister Herbert Reul, following Friday night’s attack at a festival.
Here is what we know so far:
North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, told the ARD broadcaster that authorities spent the day following a “hot lead” that led to the latest arrest, the third police have made.
Police had previously made two arrests that were likely not the perpetrator, Reul said. “The real suspect is the one that we’ve arrested just now,” he said. The individual was being questioned and evidence was seized, he said. Police declined to immediately comment.
Terrorism has not been ruled out as a motive. The prosecutor Markus Caspers said police were looking at terror as a possibility, saying there was no other obvious motive and that the alleged attacker appeared to be unknown to the victims.
The Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday claimed responsibility for the Solingen stabbings but did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion. Accounts claiming to speak for IS have falsely claimed responsibility for atrocities in the past.
Earlier, police detained a 15-year-old at his parents’ home in the early hours of Saturday, which prosecutors said was on suspicion of failing to report a crime. Public prosecutor Markus Caspers said of the 15-year-old that he was alleged to have spoken to the perpetrator “shortly before the crime”.
A second arrest was made following a police operation at a home for refugees in Solingen, a police spokesperson said. They said they could not provide any more details on the individual or the connection to the alleged incident.
Police have found at least one weapon that may have been used in the alleged assault and are analysing it for DNA traces. They said they had had no indication in the run-up to the festival that there was a security threat.
Three people – two men, aged 67 and 56, and a woman, 56 – were killed on Friday night during a festival of diversity to mark the city of Solingen’s 650th anniversary, which began on Friday and was supposed to run through to Sunday. Eight others were injured, of whom four are fighting for their lives, police said.