Berlin Pride attacker served time for trying to join ISIS, officials say

The 21-year-old man convicted in 2025 of trying to join ISIS and accused of ramming his rented vehicle into the Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade was killed by police on Sunday, a senior police official in Germany told CBS News.

The official said the suspect charged towards police with a knife and officers opened fire, shooting the suspect. Police later said that the confrontation happened at a garden colony in the suburb of Spandau. He died at the scene.

Germany's interior minister identified the suspect as Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots. Police described him as being part of Berlin's "Islamist scene" and someone who was known to authorities.

Ballout on Saturday night allegedly drove a van into a crowd gathered near Berlin's annual Christopher Street Day celebrations. He then continued the attack on foot and is believed to have injured people with a machete, according to Germany's interior minister. One woman was killed and at least 29 others were injured in the attack.

On July 3, just three-and-a-half weeks before Saturday's attack, police searched Ballout's home in Berlin-Schöneberg, prompted by an initial suspicion of a violation of Germany's Weapons Act, according to information provided to CBS News by Berlin prosecutors. However, they left after only a toy gun was found during the search and the case was subsequently dismissed.

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

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. 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.

Authorities are working to determine