Berlin Pride attack suspect shot and killed after 20 hour manhunt – everything we know

The chief suspect in the vehicle ramming attack on a Pride event in Berlin which left one dead and dozens injured has been shot and killed in a confrontation with police. Abdul Ballout, 21, had been the subject of a 20 hour manhunt involving 1,000 officers in the German capital and beyond, as political leaders vowed to punish those responsible. He was shot dead today while fleeing police at an allotment site in Spandau on the western outskirts of Berlin at 6pm local time, with police confirming they are not looking for any other suspects. Berlin police said he was shot dead after he rushed at officers with a “bladed weapon”, adding emergency services tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him at the scene. In the attack, a woman was killed and 29 people injured, including three left in a critical condition, when a white Citroen delivery van was driven into a crowd in the Tiergarten park, near the Brandeburg Gate, in the heart of Berlin shortly before 10pm on Saturday night. Earlier on Sunday, it was reported Ballout had been known to Germany security services and had been attending an Islamist deradicalisation programme. The park had been hosting celebrations for the Christopher Street Day Pride parade, an annual event in the German capital and one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ gatherings, attended by hundreds of thousands of people. German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt told public broadcaster ARD that investigators continue to look into whether any other suspects were involved, but said “we do not believe there is any further danger”. ‘We will defend the freedom and openness of our lives’ The badly-damaged van, which according to reports had been hired by Ballout in his own name, could be seen on Sunday crashed into a tree. According to eye-witness accounts, one or more attackers emerged from the vehicle and may have stabbed bystanders before fleeing the scene. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who heads an unpopular coalition government, vowed that officials would do everything in their power to arrest the culprit or culprits for the attack. He said: “These extremists have no place in our society. We will defend the freedom and openness of our lives.” At an official dinner on Sunday night, he warned: “Violence begins with intolerance, with exclusion, with discrimination, with thoughtless remarks, and with bad jokes.” German authorities said the assault had all the hallmarks of an Islamist atrocity and warned of the possibility of further or copycat incidents. Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Sunday: “Everything we are seeing here indicates that we have experienced an Islamist terror attack.” People gather around flowers, mementos and candles left by people at the Brandenburg Gate. REUTERS/Christian Mang The atrocity raised immediate questions for the German security services after multiple reports that Ballout, who is German-born of Lebanese heritage, had a string of criminal convictions and had last year attempted to travel to Syria to make contact with the Islamic State terror group. He had also expressed admiration for an unnamed terrorist organisation online. Germany has suffered a number of vehicle ramming attacks linked to extremism – among them the attack in 2016 on a Berlin Christmas market which left 11 dead by Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker whose extremist links were later found to have been known to police prior to the incident. Suspect had ‘affiliation with the Islamist scene’ On Sunday, Dobrindt acknowledged Ballout had also been on the radar of police and intelligence services. Speaking near the site of Saturday’s attack, the interior minister said: “We are dealing here with ‌a suspected ‌perpetrator, who had previously drawn attention ‌to himself through a high volume of criminal offences, radicalisation and affiliation with the Islamist scene.” According to German media reports, Ballout, who was born in Berlin, had been released from youth custody in May after being arrested last year in connection with his abortive attempt to reach Syria. He had been charged with “preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state”. As a condition of his release the 21-year-old had been placed on a register of potential extremists and ordered to attend 24 sessions with a state-run deradicalisation programme. The newspaper Die Welt reported that Ballout, who was being assessed for entry to the scheme, had attended the first two sessions without raising suspicions that he might be planning an attack. He had been due to attend his latest session on Monday. The 21-year old suspect has been identified by police as Abdul Ballout (Photo: Polizei Berlin/Reuters) Manhunt extended beyond Berlin to border crossings The extent to which Ballout was being actively monitored at the time of the attack is unclear. It was reported that while suspected extremists have their phones and movements periodically checked and tracked, full-scale surveillance requires up to 40 officers at a time and can only be allocated to a small number of potential offenders. Rather than attending his probation session on Monday, the suspected killer was instead being sought across Berlin and Europe as the German authorities monitored border crossings, as well as train stations and airports. The authorities said that “several people” were also in custody in connection with the Pride attack following raids on several properties in Berlin, including the flat in the southern Schoneberg district where Ballout had reportedly lived with his mother and siblings for a number of years. Police said they were investigating suggestions that Ballout may have had an accomplice. Some witnesses reported more than one person leaving the van once it had come to a halt before a number of bystanders were attacked with a knife or machete. There were unconfirmed reports that one of those under arrest was an Iranian national. How the attack unfolded The attack took place as a closing party for the Pride festival was taking place in the Tiergarten following a parade involving some 80 trucks and floats which had made its way through central Berlin earlier in the day. Emergency personnel gather at an intersection following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day activities in Berlin (Photo: AP Photo/Fanny Brodersen) Rather than targeting the party directly, the van was driven into a crowd likely to have contained a mixture of festivalgoers, other locals and visitors a few hundred metres away on a track in the park. Berliners and visitors voiced both their shock at the atrocity and their determination not to let the incident sow hatred and division. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the city’s freedom had been “attacked in the most horrific way”. “After a peaceful and vibrant Christopher Street Day parade, the gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was brutally attacked,” he wrote in a social media post. “Berlin is the city of freedom – and our freedom has been attacked in the most horrific way today. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends.” Briton Ashley Jump, 26, who had travelled to Berlin for the parade but left before the attack, returned on Sunday to leave flowers near the crime scene. They said: “They’ll never erase us, we’ll never be gone. As long as humanity has existed, we’ve existed. And as long as humanity exists, we will exist. We will not be removed.”