Authorities said that a man with a long knife and killed three people in Germany’s southern city Wuerzburg. Five others were also injured, some very seriously. He was then shot and taken into police custody.

The suspect was identified by police as a 24-year old Somalian man, living in Wuerzburg. They said that his gunshot wound did not pose a threat to his life.

Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s top security officer, said that among those injured was a young boy whose father was likely among the dead.

Herrmann stated that the suspect was receiving psychiatric treatment prior to the attack. It was not immediately clear what the motive might be.

Social media videos showed pedestrians surrounding an attacker and holding him back with sticks and chairs.

German RTL TV interviewed a woman who claimed she witnessed the incident and said that police officers then intervened.

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Julia Runze stated that “he had a very large knife with him and was attacking people.” “Then many people tried throwing chairs, umbrellas, or cellphones at him to stop him.”

“The police approached him, and I believe a shot was fired. You could hear it clearly.”

Kerstin Kunick, a spokesperson for the police, stated that officers were alerted at 5 p.m. (1500 GMT), to a knife attack at Barbarossa Square in central London. Wurzburg, a city of around 130,000 people, is located between Frankfurt and Munich.