Berlin ramming attack believed to be act of Islamist extremist terror, officials say

The suspect sought in connection with a car ramming attack on a Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed in a confrontation with police, a senior police official in Germany told CBS News.

The official said the suspect charged towards police with a knife and police opened fire, shooting the suspect. The Associated Press, citing police, said the confrontation happened Sunday in a suburb of the city.

Germany's interior minister identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots. Authorities believe he may have been motivated by Islamist extremist ideology and sought to join the Islamic State group.

Police described him as being part of Berlin's "Islamist scene" and someone who is known to authorities.

"Everything we see here points to us dealing with an Islamic terror attack," Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Sunday.

Dobrindt said Ballout was born in Germany and that his mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before he was born. He said the suspect had been convicted in Berlin in the past.

Berlin prosecutors said Ballout shared ISIS propaganda on Instagram in 2024 and the following year traveled to Lebanon "with the intention of proceeding from there to Syria to join ISIS." However, he was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison. He returned to Germany in November 2025 and he was arrested in May for "preparing a serious act of subversive violence," prosecutors said.

He was sentenced to a year and ten months in jail, but this was suspended, partially in recognition of the time he had spent in jail in Lebanon and pre-trial detention, and partially because he admitted to the crimes and distanced himself from ISIS, prosecutors said.

Police said they believe Ballout rented the vehicle used in the attack but it is unclear if he was the driver. He was described as being of slim build, about 6 feet 3 inches tall, with black hair and wearing a black hoodie with white pants.

Police searched an apartment in Berlin's Schöneberg district early Sunday, but said they found no one there. The suspect's heavily damaged vehicle remained at the site of the attack on Sunday morning.

Authorities are also working to determine if he acted alone. Investigators believe that one or more people may have left the vehicle after it came to a stop. Some victims also suffered stab wounds, raising the possibility that others were involved in the attack, but authorities have not confirmed that. Dobrindt said the suspect is believed to have injured people with a machete.

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