German police have fatally shot the individual believed to be the driver of a van that plowed into a crowd close to Berlin’s Pride festival, resulting in the death of a woman and injuries to at least 29 people.
The alleged terrorist, identified as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, reportedly advanced towards the police with a weapon before being gunned down by officers. Officials disclosed that the suspect was located in an allotment garden in Spandau, West Berlin.
Prior to the incident, authorities had issued a wanted notice cautioning the public against approaching Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese heritage, citing potential danger due to his possible possession of weapons.
In a statement released by Polizei Berlin, it was mentioned that the suspect involved in the previous day’s attack in the Grosser Tiergarten area was discovered in the Spandau allotment garden at approximately 6 pm. The suspect allegedly charged at the responding law enforcement officers with a stabbing weapon, leading to the use of police firearms. Despite immediate resuscitation efforts, the suspect succumbed at the scene. Witnesses recounted hearing two rounds of gunfire during the operation on the garden shed. Berlin’s interior senator Iris Spranger expressed gratitude towards the police for swiftly apprehending the assailant.
The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, revealed that the suspect had previously drawn attention due to a record of criminal activities, as well as indications of radicalization and ties to the Islamist community in the German capital. Dobrindt remarked that the circumstances suggested an Islamic terror-related incident.
The attack transpired around 10 pm on Saturday, close to a party near the Brandenburg Gate, which was intended to conclude the city’s Pride festival. A white van reportedly entered Tiergarten Park, striking multiple individuals among a gathering comprising festival attendees and other visitors before colliding with a tree.
Ashley Jump, a 26-year-old British individual who attended the parade on Saturday but departed before the attack, returned the following day to place flowers at a memorial site. Ashley expressed resilience, stating, “They’ll never erase us, we’ll never be gone. As long as humanity has existed, we’ve existed. We will not be removed.”
