Authorities review whether warning signs were missed after attack that killed one woman and injured 29 people.
German authorities confirmed that the suspect in a vehicle-ramming and stabbing attack on Saturday in Berlin was shot dead by police on Sunday evening.
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The suspect was located at about 6 p.m. in Berlin’s Spandau district. Preliminary findings indicated that the suspect ran toward police officers with a bladed weapon, prompting officers to open fire.
On Saturday evening, a van drove into a crowd near Berlin’s Tiergarten park. The driver then attacked passersby with a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured. The incident occurred near the site of the Christopher Street Day Pride parade.
Earlier Sunday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the incident was suspected to be an “Islamist terrorist attack.”
The suspect was a German citizen of Lebanese descent who had a history of multiple offenses and radicalization. He had previously been sentenced by a German court to one year and 10 months in prison, with the sentence suspended on probation.
Those injured in the vehicle-ramming attack during the LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations are recovering favorably. Four of the 29 people who sustained the most serious injuries in the attack, were transferred to Charite Hospital in central Berlin. Most of the injured suffered lacerations and multiple bone fractures caused by the impact of the vehicle.
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. The main suspect, identified as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, had previously attempted to join the Islamic State group. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that he had accomplices or that someone may have known about his plans.
Abdul Ballout of Lebanese descent who drove a van into a crowd at a Berlin Pride event was shot dead during an SEK operation in a garden shed in the Berlin district of Spandau.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called it an Islamic terror attack. pic.twitter.com/WWMhwa7mZe pic.twitter.com/60rx9ff28P— Tony (@TonyL_01) July 26, 2026
Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Ines Peterson confirmed that an Iranian national arrested Saturday night has been released because of insufficient evidence linking him to the vehicle-ramming attack.
According to the newspaper Bild, the man was found injured at the scene. Investigators initially believed he might have been inside the vehicle used in the attack, but DNA evidence later ruled out that possibility.
In the aftermath of the attack, Germany is also debating whether authorities failed at any stage to prevent the suspected attack, given that Ballout had a criminal record and was considered a security risk because of his Islamist ideology.
The court that sentenced him to 22 months in prison for attempting to join the Islamic State group defended its decision to allow Ballout to remain on probation while prosecutors appealed the ruling.
The suspect had already spent six months in pretrial detention, a period the court described as “relatively long for a German citizen who, at the time of the offense and sentencing, still fell within the juvenile category.”
Justice Ministry spokesperson Eike Hosemann said authorities would examine “carefully” the lessons that can be learned from the attack, while stressing that it is still too early to draw conclusions.
Hosemann recalled that penalties for terrorism offenses were increased in April, although the changes did not apply to Ballout. He said Ballout’s record “shows no gaps in substantive criminal law” and added that the Justice Ministry has commissioned a study to examine potential reforms to juvenile criminal law, which some critics consider too lenient.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: Xinhua – EFE
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