*Update (July 26): German media has reported that Ballout has been shot dead by Berlin police in the suburb of Spandau as he charged them with a bladed weapon.
On the evening of July 25, a massive gay pride parade, an annual event, was being held in the Tiergarten, Berlin's massive park near the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The annual Christopher Street Day event reportedly draws people from all over the world. Around 10 pm, a white van suddenly plowed into the crowd, killing one woman and injuring dozens more. The van crashed into a tree, at which time one, possibly two men emerged from the vehicle. At least one was armed with a machete and attacked bystanders while fleeing.
Police have now released the name and photo of one suspect. He is Abdul Ballout, 21, a German citizen of Lebanese background, who is believed to have rented the van. He has a criminal background and was known to the police to have been radicalized. According to some reports, he was reportedly in the process of undergoing "deradicalization", whatever that means. This is now being classified as an Islamist terror attack.
Incredibly, even as I write, some German news sources are only describing the suspect as Abdul B.! How they expect the public's help in locating him is beyond me.
In the interest of time, we have translated just the initial paragraphs of the below article from BILD.
Police searching for Abdul Ballout (21) with photo
CSD terrorist allegedly attacked bystanders with a machete
Now a manhunt for two perpetrators. Searches at all German exterior borders
-By Katherina Metag, Til Biermann and Isabel Pfannkuche
July 26, 2026 at 16:03
It was supposed to be a day of joy and love. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world came to Berlin for the Christopher Street Day. Stars like Sarah Connor stood on the stage. But what began as a joyous celebration ended in panic and death. On Saturday evening, a van plowed into the crowd of people. Terror!
Since the attack, the police are urgently searching for the suspect, Abdul Ballout! The 21-year-old is considered an Islamist and is known to police. But he is not believed to be the sole perpetrator. According to BILD's information, the police have information as to a possible accomplice of Abdul Ballout (21). The identity of the second suspect is not yet known. On the morning following the Horrific crime, police officers released a photo of Abdul Ballout. A woman (29) died in the attack. 29 people were injured. Two who were initially critically injured have now been stabilized.
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