The DJ was told to play through the attack: “Just keep going”

DJ Tobias Topic stood and played during the festival in Solingen.

Then the knifeman attacked.

“Just keep going, we don’t want mass panic,” Tobias Topic was urged.

Friday’s city festival in German Solingen took a tragic turn.

They celebrated 650 years with a so-called “diversity festival”.

Disc jockey Tobias Topic, who himself is from Solingen, had gone there to play. But when he was on stage, the knifeman attacked. The perpetrator attacked and killed three people, another four are injured.

– I have really bad news from Solingen, says the DJ on his Instagram story Rheinische Post.

Asked to play on

About a quarter of an hour into the performance, a person came on stage.

“We don’t know what’s happening, it was probably a knife attack. Just keep going, we don’t want mass panic,” says the person to Tobias Topic.

He continued to play and pretend it was nothing. But after 20 minutes the music was turned off.

“Three people have died, ten are being treated and the perpetrator is still on the run,” says one person to Tobias Topic.

– My thoughts go out to all the victims, to all the families who are now affected by this. It is unbelievable that something like this could happen, he says and continues:

– Helicopters still fly around here.

Tyska Bild writes that the act took place in front of the stage where all the live acts played.

Early on Saturday morning, parts of the city were still cordoned off. The perpetrator managed to escape through the crowd and is still not caught. A hunt is currently underway.

The festival was supposed to continue on Saturday and Sunday, but has now been cancelled, the city announced.