BERLIN, Germany (AP) — German investigators were still searching Sunday for a man suspected of driving a van into a crowd the night before near Berlin’s Pride festival, killing one person and injuring several people before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack.
Authorities issued a wanted notice and warned people against approaching Abdul Ballout, 21, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.
“Everything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.
Dobrindt put the total number of wounded at 29. The attack occurred a few hundred yards from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city’s Pride festival.
Dobrindt said the suspect had come to authorities’ attention in the past because of numerous previous crimes, of which he did not give details, and also because of “radicalization and belonging to the Islamist scene” in the German capital.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
He said Ballout was born in Germany, and that his mother was naturalized in 2002 — three years before he was born.
JUST IN – Berlin police release an image of the suspect, Abdul B, wanted in connection with the car ramming incident at Berlin’s pride festival, adding not to approach him as “he may be armed and dangerous.” pic.twitter.com/LaIgp5dm7i
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 26, 2026
Dobrindt said the suspect had been convicted in Berlin in the past, though he did not specify for what. He said that he had been given a suspended sentence of 1 year and 10 months.
Police conducted operations in the city as they searched for the suspect. Those included a search at an apartment in Berlin’s Schöneberg district in the early hours of Sunday, but police said they found no one there.
Berlin event is one of Europe’s largest Pride celebrations
According to police, a white van drove into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., and hit several people before colliding with a tree. The closing party at the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was ongoing at the time next to the Brandenburg Gate, a short distance away. The party followed a parade with some 80 trucks that had made their way through downtown Berlin earlier in the day.
The attack did not occur at the festival, along its route or at the closing party. Rather, the violence took place nearby on a track in the Tiergarten park. The van drove into a crowd that was likely a mix of festivalgoers and other locals or visitors.
Police said a woman was killed. Berlin’s fire service said that three people sustained life-threatening injuries and another eight were seriously injured.
The Pride event next to the Brandenburg Gate was called off around 10:15 p.m., and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.
Two people walk together past emergency personnel in Berlin, early July 26, 2026, following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of mourners gathered at a memorial at the iconic gate. They hugged each other and laid down flowers, candles, rainbow flags and homemade signs, including a cardboard one that said: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Hundreds of thousands had come to Berlin to celebrate on Saturday, though it is unclear how many were still at the festival by late evening. It is one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.
The van, with its battered front resting against a tree, could still be seen at the scene Sunday morning.
“We are simply stunned by what happened,” said Andre Lehmann, a top official with the main national LGBTQ+ association, LSVD+. “This suspected attack hits the heart of the queer community.”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that law enforcement would find the suspect.
“I would like to say this to Christopher Street Day participants here in Berlin but also across Germany: Don’t let yourselves, let us not let ourselves, be intimidated,” he said. “These acts have only one purpose: They aim to divide our society. They want to take away from us the most important thing we have: namely, our openness and our freedom.”
Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at a vigil for victims in the Pride March attack at St. Marien Church in Berlin, Germany, July 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Dobrindt said he expected security measures at other major events in Germany, including Pride events elsewhere, to be reviewed and if necessary significantly strengthened.
He pointed to concern about possible copycat crimes, adding that “this is not typical of such situations, but it also can’t be ruled out.”
Berlin has seen Islamic extremist attacks before. In December, 2016, a rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia plowed a hijacked truck into a Christmas market, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. He was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
In February last year, a Spanish tourist was stabbed and seriously wounded at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. A Syrian man was convicted in March and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Saturday’s violence “is suspected to be an Islamist terror attack on our way of living together, on our liberal democracy, on our openness and our freedom,” Wegner said.
We can’t do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I’ll join
Yes, I’ll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You’re a dedicated reader
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
