A Lebanese-German national identified as Abdul Ballout, 21, was fatally shot by police on Sunday after he drove a van into a crowd at Berlin's annual Christopher Street Day Pride parade and subsequently attacked individuals with a bladed weapon. The attack, which occurred on Saturday, resulted in one fatality and 29 injuries, with three individuals sustaining life-threatening wounds.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed that "everything we are seeing here indicates that we have experienced an Islamist attack." He added that the suspect "rammed into a crowd with a car" and "then attacked the crowd with some type of blade, it might have been a machete, and also severely injured those people." Dobrindt also stated that the possibility of further terrorist attacks could not be ruled out.
Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese heritage, was reportedly shot and killed during a police operation at a garden complex, according to German media reports on Sunday. Police had launched a significant manhunt for the suspect, who had previously attempted to join the Islamic State group. Police sources indicated that Ballout traveled to Lebanon in 2025 in an unsuccessful attempt to join IS. He had been in pre-trial detention until May 2026 and was mandated to participate in a de-radicalization program.
Ballout was born in Germany in 2005, and his mother became a naturalized German citizen in 2002. In May 2026, he was convicted in Germany for "preparing a serious act of subversive violence," but received a suspended sentence, according to Spiegel news magazine. German newspaper Bild reported that he was arrested in Lebanon while attempting to join IS and was sent back to Germany due to his citizenship.
Spiegel also reported that a few weeks prior to the attack, authorities received a tip-off that Ballout had posted a photo online posing with a weapon. However, a search of his apartment at the time yielded only a toy replica. Police had been deployed to the suspect's alleged address, located approximately one kilometer south of the attack site.
Berlin's mayor, Kai Wegner, described the incident as "an attack on all of us. It was an attack on our way of life and coexistence." He emphasized the need for a clear response, stating, "Ladies and gentlemen, this must end. We must be very clear about this."