The main suspect in the attack linked to Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride celebrations was shot dead by police on Sunday evening, according to German authorities.
Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen, was located by police in the Berlin suburb of Spandau, where officials said he attacked officers with a knife. Police spokesperson Florian Nath said officers responded by opening fire, and the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police had been searching for the suspect following an attack near Berlin’s annual Christopher Street Day celebrations. While the parade itself had taken place earlier on Saturday, authorities said that at around 10pm a van drove into a crowd on the outskirts of the event in the Tiergarten area of the city.
The vehicle crashed into a tree before its occupant fled the scene. Police also reported that several of those injured had been stabbed. Authorities have revised the casualty toll from the attack to one person dead and 29 injured.
Earlier on Sunday, police spokesperson Florian Nath said: “The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed.”
German newspapers Bild and Der Spiegel reported that the suspect travelled to the Middle East last year in an alleged attempt to join Islamic State. The publications also reported that he was convicted in May of preparing a serious act of subversive violence and received a suspended sentence.
Police investigations into the attack remain ongoing.
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