Police Launched a Massive Search After a Suspect Drove His Car Into a Crowd at a Pride Event

Police launched a massive search after a suspect drove his car into a crowd at a Pride event in the German capital on Saturday night. It is now possible to follow the agenda on BBC Turkish on WhatsApp. Cumartesi gecesi Berlin Onur Yürüyüşü etkinliğinde bir minibüsün kalabalığın arasına sürülmesi sonucu bir kadın hayatını kaybetti, en az 29 kişi de yaralandı.

Yetkililer olayın muhtemelen "İslamcı terör saldırısı" olduğunu belirtiyor. Polis, Alman başkentinde şüpheliyi yakalamak için yoğun bir arama başlattı. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the incident as a "disgusting" attack.

We have compiled what is known so far about the attack. The attack took place at approximately 22:00 local time. Police in Berlin were notified that a white vehicle had been driven into a crowd at a Pride event in the capital.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the Tiergarten park near the iconic Brandenburg Gate for the annual event. Some people were also stabbed in the incident; Authorities think the knife used may have been a machete. Shortly after, the Pride event was cancelled.

The show ended abruptly when event officials came on stage and told the crowd to start walking towards the exits. The word "evacuation" was projected onto a large screen on stage as the announcement was made to the crowd. In unverified videos shared on social media, large crowds are seen leaving the scene while emergency response vehicles are rapidly approaching the scene.

At approximately 1:00 a.m. local time, police confirmed that one woman had died and many more women had been injured. Shortly after, police announced that the vehicle thought to have been used in the attack was found crashed into a tree. At around 03:30, police announced that they had identified a suspect with Islamist connections on the social media platform X. No arrests have yet been made or a motive given.

The search area was expanded to cover the entire city and thousands of police officers were deployed, including officers from surrounding German states. On Sunday, police officers stood guard outside an apartment building in Berlin's Tiergarten district, said to be the suspect's home. Police announced that the suspect is 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, a German citizen of Lebanese origin.

Authorities stated that the suspect was known to the police and had committed a series of crimes. It was announced that he had previously been sentenced to one year and ten months in prison and his sentence was converted to probation. Minister of Internal Affairs Alexander Dobrindt said that the suspect was radicalized.

According to reports in the German media, he is a supporter of ISIS and had tried to join the organization in the past but failed. According to police sources in German media, he traveled to Lebanon in 2025 and was arrested on his return to Berlin. He was remanded in custody until May 2026 and ordered to participate in a de-radicalisation prevention programme.

It is believed to be linked to the vehicle found abandoned in the park. The suspect's photo was released and a large-scale search was launched, but police also stated that one or more people may have escaped from the vehicle used in the incident, meaning there may be additional suspects. In the police statement, it was reported that many people were injured in knife attacks.

Police asked the public to provide information but warned against contacting the suspect, who is believed to be armed and dangerous. It is estimated that Ballout, who was said to be thin and approximately 1.88 meters tall, was wearing a black hooded top and white trousers at the time of the attack. The attack took place in the popular Tiergarten park near the Brandenberg Gate. Many people and corteges attended the event.