BERLIN (LifeSiteNews) — A suspected Islamist terrorist drove a white van into a crowd gathered for a popular LGBT “pride” celebration in Berlin’s Tiergarten on Saturday night, killing one woman and wounding nearly 30 others, before being found and killed by German police on Sunday after rushing at officers with a knife.
As reported by multiple European news outlets, the now-deceased suspect, 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen of Lebanese descent with an extensive criminal history across multiple countries, rammed his van into the crowd during the annual “Christopher Street Day” event promoting so-called “LGBT pride,” killing one woman and injuring at least 29 others, with several remaining in critical condition as of this writing.
Ballout was found by police in Spandau, a western Berlin borough, the next day, but they were forced to shoot and kill him after the suspect rushed at them with a knife.
“We are dealing 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,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said after the attack.
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Following the attack, the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed in a statement that Ballout had traveled to Lebanon through Turkey in 2025 with the intention of joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria, and allegedly making contact with several individuals that he at least believed to be involved with the Islamic terror group.
Two months later, in July 2025, Ballout was arrested in Lebanon for incitement to religious and sectarian conflict and sentenced to three months in prison.
After serving his brief sentence in Lebanon, Ballout was returned to Germany in November 2025, where he faced charges for allegedly plotting “a serious act of violence endangering the state.”
In May 2026, he was convicted and sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison. However, the sentence was suspended, and Ballout was placed under the supervision of a parole officer, freeing him to allegedly plot and commit this weekend’s attack.
The Islamist had previously been convicted of assault and “robbing a victim of headphones.”
In recent years, Islamic attacks have become a common occurrence in Germany and across Europe. Indeed, just last December, five Muslim men were arrested for allegedly planning a terror attack on a Christmas market in Bavaria.
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