The 21-year-old man convicted in 2025 of attempting to hitch ISIS and accused of ramming his rented car into the Berlin LGBTQ+ Satisfaction parade was killed by police on Sunday, a senior police official in Germany advised CBS Information.
The official mentioned the suspect charged in direction of police with a knife and officers opened hearth, capturing the suspect. Police later mentioned that the confrontation occurred at a backyard colony within the suburb of Spandau. He died on the scene.
Germany’s inside minister recognized the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots. Police described him as being a part of Berlin’s “Islamist scene” and somebody who was recognized to authorities.
On July 3, simply three-and-a-half weeks earlier than Saturday’s assault, police searched Ballout’s house in Berlin-Schöneberg, prompted by an preliminary suspicion of a violation of Germany’s Weapons Act, in response to info offered to CBS Information by Berlin prosecutors. Nevertheless, they left after solely a toy gun was discovered in the course of the search and the case was subsequently dismissed.
Earlier Sunday, Inside Minister Alexander Dobrindt mentioned that “the whole lot we see right here factors to us coping with an Islamic terror assault.”
Dobrindt mentioned Ballout was born in Germany and that his mom was naturalized in 2002, three years earlier than he was born. He mentioned the suspect had been convicted in Berlin up to now.
Berlin prosecutors mentioned Ballout shared ISIS propaganda on Instagram in 2024 and the next 12 months traveled to Lebanon “with the intention of continuing from there to Syria to hitch ISIS.” Nevertheless, he was arrested and sentenced to a few months in jail. He returned to Germany in November 2025 and he was arrested in Might for “getting ready a severe act of subversive violence,” prosecutors mentioned.
He was sentenced to a 12 months and ten months in jail, however this was suspended, partially in recognition of the time he had spent in jail in Lebanon and pre-trial detention, and partially as a result of he admitted to the crimes and distanced himself from ISIS, prosecutors mentioned.
Police mentioned they consider Ballout rented the car used within the assault, nevertheless it stays unclear if he was the driving force. He was described as being of slim construct, about 6 ft 3 inches tall, with black hair and carrying a black hoodie with white pants.
Markus Schreiber through AP
Authorities are additionally working to find out if Ballout acted alone. Investigators consider that a number of folks could have left the car after it got here to a cease. Some victims additionally suffered stab wounds, elevating the likelihood that others had been concerned within the assault, however authorities haven’t confirmed that. Dobrindt mentioned the suspect is believed to have injured folks with a machete.
A person with Iranian citizenship was arrested after the assault, however police haven’t confirmed any involvement within the assault, the AP reported earlier Sunday.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz had vowed that regulation enforcement would discover the suspect.
“I want to say this to Christopher Road Day contributors right here in Berlin but in addition throughout Germany: Do not let yourselves, allow us to not let ourselves, be intimidated,” he mentioned Sunday. “These acts have just one objective: They goal to divide our society. They need to take away from us an important factor we have now: Particularly our openness and our freedom.”
Berlin’s hearth service mentioned that of the injured, three have life-threatening accidents, eight had been severely injured, and 5 had slight accidents. Police haven’t recognized the sufferer who was killed.
RALF HIRSCHBERGER /AFP through Getty Pictures 
The assault occurred a number of hundred yards from a celebration close to the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to shut out the town’s Satisfaction competition.
On Sunday afternoon, a whole bunch of mourners gathered at a memorial on the iconic gate. They hugged one another and laid down flowers, candles, rainbow flags and home made indicators, together with a cardboard one which mentioned: “the one factor extra highly effective than hate is love.”
“It is a darkish day for the group,” Julian Miethig, who had attended the occasion and been planning to go to an afterparty when he heard that “one thing unhealthy occurred” on the parade, advised the AP.
Rise in ramming assaults
The assault is the newest in a sequence which have left the nation grappling with questions on public security.
Six folks had been killed and a whole bunch injured when a automobile plowed right into a Christmas market in Magdeburg in December 2024. Two months later, a automobile drove into commerce union demonstrators in Munich, killing a girl and her two-year-old daughter. Two extra folks had been killed in March 2025 when a automobile rammed right into a crowd in Mannheim.
The assaults have completely different alleged motives, however collectively have stored immigration, safety and extremism on the middle of German politics. The debates have additionally fueled assist for the far-right Various for Germany celebration, or AfD, and put strain on Merz and Germany’s mainstream political events as they attempt to persuade voters they’ll hold the nation secure.
