Berlin Pride suspect ‘shot dead by police’ after ‘terror attack’ | World | News

The suspect in the Berlin Pride attack has reportedly been shot and killed during a police operation at a garden complex following an alleged Islamist terror attack near one of Europe’s biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations. Berlin Police says suspect Abdul Ballout, 21, was found at 6pm local time, (5pm BST), he then opened fire on officers with the police returning the fire.

The shootout took place in the Berlin district of Spandau, in west Berlin. Police say it’s believed he “rushed toward our emergency forces with a stabbing weapon, after which police firearms were used by our SEK Berlin”. Witnesses reported hearing two rounds of gunfire a few minutes apart during the raid on the garden shed. Ballout, was subsequently shot and died at 6.34pm local time (5.34pm BST), reports BILD.

Witnesses reported hearing two rounds of gunfire a few minutes apart during the raid on the garden shed.

Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger said: “I am grateful to the security authorities for finding the attacker so quickly. That is a tremendous achievement.”

“Despite immediate resuscitation measures initiated by the Berlin Fire Department, he died at the scene,” a spokesperson says.

Ballout was a German citizen of Lebanese background who was known to police and had tried to join the Islamic State group.

According to police, Ballout struck people with a rented white van in the Tiergarten area last night, July 25, at around 10pm and hit several people before colliding with a tree.

Ballout then assaulted multiple people with a bladed weapon, believed to be a machete, he then fled the scene.

One woman was killed in the attack and at least 29 others are injured.

“Everything we see here indicates that we are dealing with an Islamist terrorist attack,” the German interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt 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,” Dobrindt told ‌a press conference near the attack scene.

He added Ballout had a criminal conviction and had been sentenced to a year and 10 months in prison, but that the sentence had been suspended.

In June 2024 Ballout posted prohibited Islamic State propaganda on Instagram. The prosecutor’s office says, he then later allegedly “developed the desire to join the armed struggle of ISIS”.