Berlin Pride attack suspect shot and killed during police operation

What the report says

BBC World News reports that Abdul Ballout, the 21-year-old suspect in a deadly attack near Berlin Pride, was shot and killed by police during an operation in Spandau, a western borough of the German capital, on Sunday. Police said officers fired after Ballout, described as a German citizen of Lebanese heritage, moved toward them with a knife.

The police operation followed a major manhunt after a white van was driven into people near Tiergarten park shortly before 22:00 local time on Saturday, killing one woman and injuring at least 29 others. Authorities also said several people were hurt in a stabbing after the ramming. German media, cited by the BBC, reported that the injured were no longer in life-threatening condition.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said evidence indicated the incident was likely an “Islamist terror attack.” According to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, Ballout had previous convictions and had been linked by authorities to radicalisation and the Islamist scene. Prosecutors said he had travelled via Turkey to Lebanon in 2025 with the intention of joining Islamic State in Syria, was later jailed in Lebanon, and after returning to Germany was sentenced this year for preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited the Tiergarten scene on Sunday and attended a church service for victims, pledging to defend Germany’s open society. The attack disrupted Berlin’s Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s major Pride events, prompting cancellations and an impromptu vigil near the Brandenburg Gate.