Federal prosecutors said they were investigating on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The suspect, wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, was taken later Sunday from the police station in Solingen to make a first appearance before a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
The suspect is a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany, police confirmed to The Associated Press. The dpa news agency reported, without citing a specific source, that his asylum claim had been denied and that he was to have been deported last year. On Saturday, the Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, without providing evidence.
People alerted police shortly after p. The three people killed were two men aged 67 and 56 and a year-old woman, authorities said. The festival, which was due to have run through Sunday, was canceled as police looked for clues in the cordoned-off square.
Instead, residents gathered to mourn the dead and injured, placing flowers and notes near the scene of the attack. Among those asking themselves the question was year-old Cord Boetther, a merchant from Solingen. Officials had earlier said a year-old boy was arrested on suspicion he knew about the planned attack and failed to inform authorities, but that he was not the attacker.
Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said. In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed that the country would start deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left one police officer dead and four more people injured.
