Suspect in Berlin Pride attack shot and killed by police following major manhunt

German police have confirmed the suspect in Saturday’s Berlin Pride festival attack has been shot and killed, as ITV News’ Helen Keenan reports

The suspect in the Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured has been shot and killed following a major manhunt, German police said.

Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours.

Berlin prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.

Ballout was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival Saturday night before allegedly stabbing others with a machete, in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack.

Police said he was “located in an allotment garden facility” in western Berlin on Sunday, where he was shot after allegedly rushing towards emergency services “with a stabbing weapon”.

Despite “immediate resuscitation measures”, police said he died at the scene.

Authorities named the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, who is a German citizen with Lebanese roots. / Credit: Berlin Police

Earlier, the German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters: “Everything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack.”

He added that the “possibility” of further terrorist attacks cannot be ruled out.

On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of mourners gathered at a memorial at the Brandenburg Gate.

They laid down flowers, candles, rainbow flags and homemade signs, including a cardboard one that said: “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

What do we know about the suspect?

Berlin prosecutors said Ballout travelled to Lebanon in 2025 with the goal of going to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

There, he made contact with several people who were presumed members of the militant group — or at least he believed them to be, prosecutors said.

He was arrested in Lebanon last year and sentenced by a military court to three months’ imprisonment for offences including incitement to religious and sectarian conflict.

He returned to Germany after completing his sentence, where he was arrested at the Berlin airport.

White vehicle suspected of being used in the attack inside the police cordon at Tiergarten park. / Credit: AP

In May, a juvenile court in Berlin convicted Ballout of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, as well as publishing Islamic State propaganda on his Instagram account and other charges, prosecutors said.

The court handed down a suspended sentence of 1 year and 10 months in youth custody, which Berlin prosecutors have appealed.

The court said it took Ballout’s months of pre-trial detention in Germany and Lebanon into account.

It also said it considered that Ballout had confessed to the crimes, appeared to distance himself from the militant group and no actual threat had ever materialised.

He was released from detention pending the appeal.

People gather outside the Brandenburg Gate for a demonstration in support of LGBTQ+. / Credit: AP

How did the attack unfold?

The closing party at the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was ongoing when a van drove into a crowd around 10pm on Saturday.

Dobrindt noted that the crime scene was several hundred metres from the Pride festival itself, so the people affected would either have been in the Tiergarten park or on their way to or from the festival.

The suspect then allegedly attacked other people with a weapon, suspected to be a machete.

An eyewitness who was at the Berlin Pride festival on Saturday told ITV News about the moment the attack happened.

“People started screaming, running, and we are very stressed out because we don’t know what’s happening,” Arne Mathias said.

“And we did not hear it because we were, like, 30, 40, 50 metres away from it.

Two people embrace near others wearing thermal blankets as they stand near emergency personnel in Berlin. / Credit: AP

“It was very stressful, and everything happened so fast… I have never experienced like anything like it. “

The Pride event next to the Brandenburg Gate was called off around 10:15 pm, and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin to celebrate on Saturday, though it’s unclear how many were still at the festival by late evening. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

The van, with its battered front resting against a tree, could still be seen at the scene Sunday morning.

Dobrindt said he expected security measures at other major events in Germany, including Pride events elsewhere, to be reviewed and, if necessary, significantly strengthened.

People leave flowers and notes outside the Brandenburg Gate. / Credit: AP

Merz urges people against being intimidated

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged people to avoid division and intimidation in the wake of the attack.

At a press conference on Sunday, Merz said: “I would like to say this to Christopher Street Day participants here in Berlin but also across Germany: Don’t let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated.

“These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: Namely our openness and our freedom.”