A suspect identified as Abdul Ballout was killed in a police confrontation after allegedly driving a van into a crowd near Berlin's Pride festival on Saturday, an incident German officials are investigating as an Islamic terror attack. The van crash and subsequent machete attacks left one person dead and at least 29 others injured.
Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was known to authorities for multiple crimes and his radicalization, according to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. Ballout was born in Germany in 2005, and his mother became a naturalized German citizen in 2002. He had previously received a suspended prison sentence for a year and 10 months, though the specific conviction was not disclosed.
Police said the white van drove into a crowd in Berlin's Tiergarten park around 10 p.m. on Saturday before crashing into a tree. The suspect then allegedly attacked several people with a machete before fleeing the scene. Authorities launched an intensive manhunt for Ballout, with police describing him as armed and dangerous. They searched several locations across Berlin overnight and into Sunday, including an apartment in the Schöneberg district, but did not find him.
One woman was killed in the attack, with three people suffering life-threatening injuries and eight others seriously hurt, according to Berlin's fire service. Dobrindt later stated that at least 29 people were injured.
The incident occurred a few hundred yards from Berlin's annual Christopher Street Day Pride celebration, one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ events, though not directly on the parade route or at the festival's closing event. Investigators indicated that victims appeared to include both Pride attendees and other park visitors.
Organizers halted the celebration shortly after the attack, cutting off a live performance and urging attendees to leave the area. Police spokesman Florian Nath had previously stated that the suspect was known to investigators due to his alleged ties to Islamic groups in Berlin. The manhunt concluded Sunday with Ballout's death in a police confrontation in a nearby suburb.