Suspect in Berlin Pride ramming attack shot and killed by police, authorities say - CBS News

What the report says

CBS News reported that German police shot and killed Abdul Ballout, the 21-year-old suspect accused of attacking people near Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride celebrations, during a confrontation on Sunday in Spandau. A senior police official told CBS News that Ballout ran toward officers with a knife before police fired. Authorities said he died at the scene in a garden colony in the Berlin suburb.

Germany’s interior minister identified Ballout as a German citizen with Lebanese roots and said the available evidence pointed to an Islamist terror attack. Police described him as known to authorities and connected to Berlin’s “Islamist scene.” Officials allege Ballout drove a rented van into a crowd on Saturday night near the Pride event, then continued on foot and injured people with a machete. One woman was killed and at least 29 people were hurt, including three with life-threatening injuries, according to Berlin’s fire service.

CBS News cited Berlin prosecutors saying Ballout had shared ISIS propaganda in 2024 and later traveled to Lebanon intending to reach Syria to join ISIS. He was arrested, served time abroad, returned to Germany in November 2025, and was arrested again in May on allegations of preparing a serious act of subversive violence. Prosecutors said a later sentence was suspended in part because of time already served and because he admitted wrongdoing and distanced himself from ISIS.

Authorities are still examining whether Ballout acted alone. CBS News also reported that a separate July 3 search of his Berlin-Schöneberg home over a possible weapons-law violation ended after officers found only a toy gun and the case was dismissed. The attack has renewed concern in Germany over vehicle-ramming violence, public-event security and extremism.