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Van attack ends in death
A suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in Spandau, authorities said, after the Saturday night attack near Berlin’s Pride festival left one person dead and 29 injured.
“Suspect in deadly Berlin LGBTQ+ parade vehicle crash killed, police say The 21-year-old suspect was shot and killed by police, officials said”
AP reported that Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin, and that prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.
Police described the attack as a white van driving into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., hitting several people before colliding with a tree, and DW said the violence took place near the Christopher Street Day Parade rather than at the festival itself.
DW said police shot the suspect after he charged at officers while armed with a stabbing weapon, and that he died at the scene in Spandau on the western outskirts of Berlin.
In the immediate aftermath, BBC reported that one woman was killed and at least 29 others were injured after a van was driven into a crowd at a Berlin Pride event on Saturday night, in what officials say was likely an "Islamist terror attack."
Officials urge unity
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said authorities saw no indication of an ongoing threat after the suspected Berlin Pride attacker was shot dead, telling ARD that "we do not believe there is any further danger."
DW also reported that Dobrindt said investigators were still examining whether others may have been involved, even as a police spokesman said authorities were "not currently looking for others."
Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged the nation to remain united, saying, "Don’t let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated," and he framed the attack as a bid to divide society.
BBC said Merz condemned the incident as a "heinous" attack, while the BBC account also described how police confirmed the vehicle had crashed into a tree and that the suspect was later shot and killed at an allotment complex in Spandau after he rushed at officers with a knife.
AP added that Ashley Jump, a 26-year-old U.K. resident, returned Sunday to leave flowers at a memorial near the crime scene, saying, "They’ll never erase us, we’ll never be gone."
Past convictions and next steps
Prosecutors said Ballout had previously sought to join the Islamic State group, and AP reported that he traveled to Lebanon in 2025 with the goal of going to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
“The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack is killed in a confrontation with police The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack is killed in a confrontation with police BERLIN (AP) — The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said”
AP said Ballout was arrested in Lebanon last year and sentenced by a military court to three months’ imprisonment for offenses including incitement to religious and sectarian conflict, and that he was later arrested in Germany after completing his sentence.
BBC reported that in May this year he was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison for "preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state," with the decision deferred for six months and him placed under the supervision of a parole officer.
CBS News said the 21-year-old man convicted in 2025 of trying to join ISIS was shot and killed by police on Sunday, and it described police saying the confrontation happened at a garden colony in Spandau.
With the suspect dead, DW said the investigation remained ongoing and that Dobrindt noted investigators continue to examine whether others may have been involved, while BBC said police had identified a suspect with Islamist links and widened the search to the entire city.
