Police shoot dead Berlin Pride car-ramming attack suspect
Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, accused of carrying out an ‘Islamic terror attack’.
German police have shot dead the suspect in a car-ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride march, ending a 24-hour manhunt.
Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed on Sunday as he attacked officers with a bladed weapon, police said. Officials have asserted that all indications suggest he had carried out an “Islamic terror attack”.
Ballout was the main suspect in the attack that took place on Saturday evening, in which a van drove into a crowd attending the Berlin Pride event in the centre of the German capital. The car ramming killed one person and injured 29.
The shooting occurred in the German capital’s Spandau district. Police said Ballout died despite efforts to resuscitate him.
“Around 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), the suspect involved in yesterday’s attack in Tiergarten was located at an allotment garden complex in Spandau,” Berlin police wrote on social media.
“According to initial findings, he ran towards officers while armed with a bladed weapon; police … subsequently opened fire. Despite immediate resuscitation efforts by the Berlin Fire Department, he died at the scene.”
Ballout was known to authorities due to a “high number” of previous crimes and for being radicalised, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt noted earlier on Sunday.
“Everything we see here indicates that this was an Islamist terror attack,” he said.
Ballout had a criminal conviction for which he received a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months. According to German media, he was convicted of “preparing a serious act of subversive violence” after a failed attempt to join ISIL (ISIS).
“He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” police spokesman Florian Nath said as the search got underway.
Although investigations are ongoing, and although questions are being asked about how Ballout was able to carry out the attack despite being on the police’s radar, Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed relief that the manhunt was over.
“That the Berlin police have the suspect within 24 hours is a major success for the investigating authorities ,” the mayor told broadcaster RBB. “And I am very grateful for that.”
‘Attack on free and cosmopolitan society’
The attack took place about 10pm (20:00 GMT) on Saturday in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate and prompted police to end the event early. Some of the casualties had life-threatening injuries.
Police reported that at least one male left the vehicle and fled after it rammed through the crowd. Dobrindt said Ballout was suspected of then using a machete to attack more people. The van was left abandoned in the park.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged on Sunday to punish the perpetrators, saying the government would “push to make sure this horrific act is fully investigated and punished”.
The German leader also called for Germany not to allow the attack to create division and appealed to those targeted “not let yourselves be intimidated”.
Mayor Wegner expressed shock at the attack, saying: “Following a peaceful and vibrant Pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner.”
“This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” he added.
However, despite having little sympathy for LGBT causes, reactionary forces have been quick to try to seize on the incident to peddle their anti-immigrant agenda.
Martin Hess, a lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), denounced the attack as a result of “a complete failure of the government’s security policies”.
