Abdul Ballout, the suspect in a deadly attack that left one person dead and 29 injured near Berlin’s Pride festival, was shot and killed by police on Sunday, authorities said.
Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors stated he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
The suspect is believed to have driven a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival on Saturday night before allegedly stabbing others with a machete in what authorities are treating as an Islamic extremist terror attack. The incident occurred a few hundred yards from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was concluding the city’s Pride festival.
Ballout was located around 6 p.m. Sunday in a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb. According to the city’s police department, he reportedly ran toward officers with a sharp instrument, prompting police to fire at least one shot. He died at the scene.
Ballout was born in Germany, and his mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before his birth. In 2025, Ballout traveled to Lebanon with the stated intention of going to Syria to join the Islamic State group, Berlin prosecutors reported Sunday. While in Lebanon, he made contact with individuals he believed to be members of the militant group. He was arrested in Lebanon last year and received a three-month sentence from a military court for offenses including incitement to religious and sectarian conflict. He returned to Germany after completing his sentence and was apprehended at the Berlin airport.
In May, a juvenile court in Berlin convicted Ballout of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, publishing Islamic State propaganda on his Instagram account, and other charges. Prosecutors had appealed the court's decision to impose a suspended sentence of 1 year and 10 months in youth custody. The court cited Ballout's pre-trial detention in Germany and Lebanon, his confession, apparent distancing from the militant group, and the fact that no actual threat had materialized as factors in its sentencing. He was released from detention pending the appeal.
Police reported that a white van drove into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m. Saturday, striking several people before colliding with a tree. The closing party of the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was underway nearby. Hundreds of thousands had gathered in Berlin for the Saturday parade, which featured approximately 80 trucks making their way through downtown Berlin earlier in the day. The attack did not occur at the festival itself, along its route, or at the closing party, but rather a few hundred meters away in the Tiergarten park. The victims were in a crowd likely composed of festivalgoers and other individuals.
On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of mourners gathered at a memorial near the Brandenburg Gate, laying flowers, lighting candles, and displaying rainbow flags and handmade signs expressing solidarity.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the nation to remain united, stating, "Don’t let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated. These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: Namely our openness and our freedom."
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt indicated that security measures at other major events in Germany, including upcoming Pride events, would be reviewed and potentially enhanced. Berlin has previously experienced Islamic extremist attacks, including a 2016 incident where a truck was plowed into a Christmas market, resulting in 13 deaths.