German police have shot and killed Abdul Ballout, the prime suspect behind a fatal car-ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride march, ending a 24-hour manhunt in the capital.
The 24-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots died on Sunday evening after attacking officers with a bladed weapon in Spandau, a northwestern district of Berlin.
The search ended around 6 p.m. local time when officers located Ballout at an allotment garden complex. Police confirmed that the suspect ran toward officers while holding a bladed weapon, prompting police to open fire. The Berlin Fire Department attempted immediate resuscitation, but Ballout died at the scene.
The incident follows an attack on Saturday evening in the Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate. A van drove directly into a crowd attending the Berlin Pride event, killing one person and injuring 29 others.
Officials reported that some victims suffered life-threatening injuries. Police stated that at least one male exited the vehicle after ramming the crowd.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated earlier on Sunday that Ballout was known to authorities due to a high number of previous crimes and radicalisation. Dobrindt declared, “Everything we see here indicates that this was an Islamist terror attack.”
Ballout previously received a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months for preparing a serious act of subversive violence following an attempt to join ISIL. Police spokesman Florian Nath had noted during the manhunt that authorities knew Ballout as a member of local Islamic circles in Berlin.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner called the incident “an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” while expressing relief over the speed of the police operation, telling broadcaster RBB that locating the suspect within 24 hours marked a major success for investigating authorities.
