Police Told Media the Suspect Was Shot Dead in an Operation, After the Incident Was Classified As an "islamist Terrorist"

Police told media the suspect was shot dead in an operation, after the incident was classified as an "Islamist terrorist" attack. One person was killed and several others injured in the attack. Follow DW.

Follow DW. Follow DW's coverage for the latest developments on the manhunt and reaction to Saturday night's attack. Berlin's Senate Department for Interior Affairs confirmed that the fugitive suspect in a Saturday van ramming during Berlin Pride was shot dead in a police operation on Sunday.

The department functions as the Interior Ministry for the city-state of Berlin. Berlin police also confirmed the operation, saying that they had localized the suspect at a garden allotment in Spandau on the western outskirts of the city around 6 p.m. local time (1600 UTC). Berlin police shot at the suspect after he charged at officers while armed with a stabbing weapon, according to the statement.

He was then subject to resuscitation efforts by firefighters but died of his wounds at the scene. German media are reporting that the suspect in Saturday's van ramming attack was shot dead during police operations, but there is yet to be confirmation from authorities. Police were deployed to a garden allotment in the Spandau borough on the western outskirts of Berlin, a spokesperson for the city-state's public prosecutor's office was cited as saying.

The spokesperson said that police operations are ongoing, adding that authorities could not yet comment on whether there had been any arrests. Judicial authorities confirmed earlier media reports that the suspect in the Saturday van ramming in Berlin had made multiple failed attempts to leave Germany and join the "Islamic State" (IS) militant group. The suspect had initially attempted to travel to Mauritania through Turkey, but ultimately traveled from Turkey to Lebanon in an attempt to make his way to Syria to join IS, the public prosecutor general's office of the city-state of Berlin said.

According to the statement, he then made contact with multiple individuals in Lebanon that he believed were members of IS. The suspect was sentenced to three months in prison by a Lebanese military court for "inciting religious and confessional conflict, among other things. He returned to Germany in November 2025 after the end of his prison term and was again arrested at Berlin International Airport.

The suspect then spent months in pre-trial detention in Germany. Hundreds of people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to pay respects to the victims of Saturday's car ramming attack. The gathering mourners held a minute of silence and lay down flowers at the iconic site in the German capital.

The area was partially cordoned off and a police helicopter circled the perimeter. The attack on Berlin's Christopher Street Day (CSD) event has triggered strong reactions across Germany's political spectrum, with leaders condemning the violence while offering sharply different assessments of its causes and implications. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the incident as an assault on the country's fundamental values.

"This act is an attack on our open society, on our way of life and on our ability to live together, he said. Steinmeier added he was, "shaken and outraged. The incident has also reignited debate over Germany's security policies and counterterrorism measures.

Senior politicians from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) called for tougher measures in response. Günter Krings, the party's spokesperson on interior affairs, argued that harsher penalties should be introduced if investigators determine the attack was motivated by Islamist extremism. Speaking to the Rheinische Post he also suggested that citizenship rules could be tightened.

Fellow CDU lawmaker Alexander Throm urged lawmakers to move quickly on pending security legislation, which includes provisions for expanded digital investigative powers and retention of IP addresses for criminal investigations. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), focused on defending the values represented by Pride events. "Christopher Street Day stands for the right of every person to live freely, he said.

"We will defend that. Meanwhile, politicians from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) used the incident to criticize the government's handling of security issues. AfD lawmaker Martin Hess described it as "a complete failure of the government's security policies, arguing that authorities had failed to prevent violence despite extensive security preparations.

AfD lawmaker Thorsten Weiss claimed that Berlin faces a serious problem with “Islamist extremism” and called for an emergency committee meeting to investigate how a person he described as a known extremist was allegedly able to carry out the attack. Germany's federal public prosecutor's office will take over investigations into the Saturday van ramming in Berlin, Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said.