A known Islamist suspected of driving a minivan into a crowd near a major LGBTQ Pride gathering in Berlin was shot dead by law enforcement officers in the city’s Spandau district, police said on Sunday.
The ramming attack happened in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate at about 10 p.m. on Saturday, not far from one of Europe’s biggest annual LGBTQ parade, Christopher Street Day. One person was killed and 29 were injured, authorities said.
“Around 6 p.m., the suspect involved in yesterday’s attack in Tiergarten was located at an allotment garden complex in Spandau,” Berlin police wrote on X. “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.”
A federal prosecutors spokesperson confirmed one person had been shot and declared dead. Berlin police had identified the suspect as Abdul B, 21, and published his picture, asking the public for information on his whereabouts.
The suspect had “attracted attention in the past through a high number of criminal offences, through radicalisation, through membership of the Islamist scene,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said earlier, adding that he was of Lebanese heritage, born in Germany in 2005.
Earlier, police have described the suspect as slim, around 1.90 metres (6 foot 2) tall, with black hair, and last seen wearing a black hooded top and white trousers. They said he was part of the “Islamist spectrum”.
Three of the 16 people who were injured in the attack were in a life-threatening condition, and some of the injuries included stab wounds, police and emergency services said. Organisers of the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, Berlin’s annual LGBTQ Pride, cancelled the remainder of the events after the attack.Latest News, Breaking News & Top News Stories | The Express TribuneReutersRead More