The car ramming attack on a Berlin LGBTQ+ Pride parade on Saturday is believed to have been motivated by Islamist extremist ideology, authorities said on Sunday, as a search for the suspect continues. The attack at one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ events left one dead and at least 29 injured.
German police have identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Ballout. 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 that 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, though he didn’t specify for what. He said that he had been given a suspended sentence of 1 year and 10 months.
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.
In a wanted notice issued Sunday, police warned that Ballout may be armed and dangerous and said the public should avoid “direct contact.”
Markus Schreiber via AP 
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.
Berlin’s fire service said that of the injured, three have life-threatening injuries, eight were seriously injured, and five had slight injuries. Police have not identified the deceased victim.
Before the attack, huge crowds had spent hours celebrating peacefully. The event, in front of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, featured dozens of floats, live music and a march.
“It’s a dark day for the community,” said Julian Miethig, who had attended the event and been planning to go to an afterparty when he heard that “something bad happened” at the parade.
Ebrahim Noroozi via AP 
Rise in ramming attacks
The attack is the latest in a series that have left the country grappling with questions about public safety.
Six people were killed and hundreds injured when a car plowed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg in December 2024. Two months later, a car drove into trade union demonstrators in Munich, killing a woman and her two-year-old daughter. Two more people were killed in March 2025 when a car rammed into a crowd in Mannheim.
The attacks have different alleged motives, but together have kept immigration, security and extremism at the center of German politics. The debates have also fueled support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, and put pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Germany’s mainstream political parties as they try to convince voters they can keep the country safe.
Merz called Saturday’s ramming “an attack on freedom” and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
“What an abhorrent act in Berlin,” Merz wrote on social media. He added that Germany loves freedom, “and we will preserve and defend that.”
