Berlin police earlier today (Sunday, July 26) shot and killed a 21-year-old man who was the suspect in an attack yesterday (Saturday, July 25) on the Berlin Pride celebration that left one woman dead and 29 others injured.
The suspect, identified as Abdul B who was known to have connections to Islamist circles, drove his vehicle into the crowd gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which backs onto the large part in Central Berlin, for the finale of the annual Christopher Street Day Pride celebration.
After his van hit a tree, the suspect got out of the van and began attacking people nearby with “a bladed weapon” people identified as a machete, according to ABC News.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, in a press conference confirmed earlier police reports that the suspect was a “German citizen of Lebanese descent who was born in Germany” and who had “an extensive criminal record, showed signs of radicalization, and was associated with the radical Islamist scene.”
He was “previously sentenced in Berlin to one year and ten months in prison. The sentence was commuted to parole, and prosecutors appealed the decision,” Dobrindt added, but he did not provide details about why the suspect was sentenced to prison.
The Pride celebration was canceled after the attack and police began an extensive manhunt that culminated today in the suspect’s death following a confrontation.
Police found the suspect today in an allotment garden complex in Spandau, according to a statement from Berlin police. “According to current information, he reportedly ran toward our officers with a stabbing weapon, prompting our SEK Berlin unit to open fire Despite immediate resuscitation efforts by the Berlin Fire Department, he died at the scene.”
— Tammye Nash