{"id":218411,"date":"2026-07-27T06:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/police-shoot-dead-berlin-pride-van-and-knife-rampage-suspect-officials-say-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T06:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T06:27:12","slug":"police-shoot-dead-berlin-pride-van-and-knife-rampage-suspect-officials-say-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/police-shoot-dead-berlin-pride-van-and-knife-rampage-suspect-officials-say-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Police shoot dead Berlin Pride van and knife rampage suspect, officials say – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdul Ballout, 21, reportedly shot in operation at allotment in Spandau district after fatal attack in Tiergarten park
A man suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin\u2019s Pride festival then going on a knife rampage in an Islamist terror attack has been shot dead by police, German officials have said.
Police confirmed on Sunday evening that the chief suspect had been shot dead, reportedly during an operation at an allotment garden complex \u2060in the capital\u2019s Spandau district.
One woman was killed on Saturday evening and 29 others were injured after a man drove a rented minivan into a crowd of pedestrians, then attacked people with what appeared to be a machete. The attack took place in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate at about 10pm local time on Saturday, close to one of Europe\u2019s biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations.
The attack forced organisers to cut short one of Europe\u2019s largest Pride events and came as Germany<\/a> remained on edge after a series of deadly vehicle and knife attacks.
The German interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, named the chief suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout. \u201cWe are dealing \u200bhere with \u200ca suspected \u200cperpetrator, who had previously drawn attention \u200cto himself through a high volume of criminal offences, radicalisation and affiliation with the Islamist scene,\u201d he told \u200ca press conference near the site of the attack. He said Ballout had a criminal conviction and had been sentenced as a juvenile to a year and 10 months in prison, but that the sentence had been suspended.
German media reported that Ballout, a German national with Lebanese roots, was a supporter of Islamic State<\/a> and last year travelled to the Middle East in a failed attempt to join the group. He was then convicted in Germany of \u201cpreparing a serious act of subversive violence\u201d, the news outlets Bild and Der Spiegel reported.
Police and prosecutors had asked for help in finding Ballout, but warned the public to avoid \u201cdirect contact\u201d with him, saying he may be armed and dangerous. Police searched an apartment in the Sch\u00f6neberg district of Berlin near the scene of the attack in the early hours of Sunday, but said they had found no one there.
Before Ballout was shot, Der Spiegel spoke with his father, Tawfik, <\/a> by telephone from Lebanon, where he was visiting relatives.
Describing Ballout as \u201cgenerous, emotional, loving\u201d, he said his son had lived with his mother, from whom Tawfik is divorced, and two of his three sisters. Ballout attended school until 10th grade, then bounced from job to job, in security or as a driver.
Tawfik described the family as Shia<\/a> but \u201cnot extremely religious\u201d and said it \u201cdoes not support Islamic State\u201d, an extremist Sunni group.
He and Ballout had fought about his hair and beard. \u201cI did not allow him to wear a long beard,\u201d he told Spiegel, calling it a symbol of extremism. Asked about a possible motive for the attack, he said: \u201cHe was brainwashed.\u201d
Tawfik spoke with Ballout on Saturday, the day of the attack. \u201cHe called me and we spoke normally, like every day. He said he missed me and wished he was with us in Lebanon.\u201d
The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, urged Germany to avoid division and intimidation in the aftermath of the attack. \u201cWe \u200bwill think \u200babout \u200bconsequences, we \u200bwill \u200cdefend \u200bour freedom,\u201d he said in a news conference.
Earlier, Merz vowed to punish those responsible, describing the \u201cheinous act\u201d as an \u201cattack on our society\u201d in a social media post. The flag at the German Bundestag was ordered to be lowered to half mast.
Police said the vehicle had struck multiple \u2060people after being driven into the Tiergarten. Shortly before 10pm the driver of the white minivan swerved into the park, close to where the route of the Pride march had been earlier in the day, hitting people on a path and crashing into a tree.
Bild cited a witness as saying that a man had emerged from the vehicle and fled on foot. A hunt involving helicopters and officers from several German states was under way across the capital on Sunday.
Julian Methig, who attended the event, described it as a nightmare come true. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped I\u2019d never have to experience \u2026 I\u2019m shocked,\u201d he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in Berlin in warm summer sunshine to celebrate the Pride parade. It is known in Germany as Christopher Street Day (CSD), named after the site of the Stonewall Inn in New York City where riots against police raids touched off the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. CSD was first held in West Berlin in 1979.
Berlin\u2019s mayor, Kai Wegner, called the deadly assault \u201can attack on our free and cosmopolitan society\u201d.
\u201cFollowing a peaceful and colourful CSD, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner,\u201d he said on X. \u201cBerlin is the city of freedom \u2013 and our freedom has today been attacked in the most appalling way. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends.\u201d
For the first time in its history, CSD began on Friday night this year with a pro-democracy political rally. Berlin will hold a regional election in September along with two other states.
The parade on Saturday ran under the motto \u201ctaking a stand is hot\u201d, which organisers said was \u201cin response to increasing hostility\u201d to LGBTQ+ people in Germany.
More than 80 floats and 50 groups on foot joined the procession through the city centre past Potsdamer Platz and the Victory Column monument in the Tiergarten, culminating in a rally at the Brandenburg Gate.
Earlier in the day one person was arrested for resisting police orders at a far-right counterprotest.
Before last year\u2019s parade, Berlin LGBTQ+ organisations sounded the alarm<\/a> that attacks had become more frequent while hard-won rights were under threat. Campaigners said a rise in hostility had accompanied the surge in support for the far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD), now the most popular party in national opinion polls, as well as an increase in Islamist-inspired attacks.
European leaders offered solidarity, including heads of government in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. \u201cItaly firmly condemns and opposes all forms of hate and extremism,\u201d the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, wrote on X, adding: \u201cWe stand with Germany and the German people.\u201d The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: \u201cFaced with hatred and violence, our response will always be unity, freedom, and resolve.\u201d
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, a German centre-right politician allied with Merz, sent her deepest sympathy to the victims of the attack, describing the CSD parade as standing for \u201cfreedom, dignity and equality \u2013 the fundamental values of the EU\u201d.
Britain\u2019s foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, said he was \u201chorrified by the appalling attack in Berlin\u201d and had spoken to his counterpart, Johann Wadephul, \u201cto convey the UK\u2019s solidarity: we stand with Germany\u201d.
Far-right leaders were also quick to comment on the attacks. The co-leader of the AfD Tino Chrupalla wrote on X: \u201cWe will not allow religious extremists to divide our country with violence and intolerance!\u201d
The president of France\u2019s far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella, wrote: \u201cThe Islamist threat remains a major issue in Europe and continues to target what they hate most about our civilisation \u2013 and what we cherish so much \u2013 freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Abdul Ballout, 21, reportedly shot in operation at allotment in Spandau district after fatal attack in Tiergarten parkA man suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin\u2019s Pride festival then going on a knife rampage in an Islamist terror attack has been shot dead by police, German officials have said.Police confirmed on Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}