A German-born Islamist convicted of terrorism-related crimes after trying to join the Islamic State group (ISIS) was shot and killed by police Sunday, nearly 24 hours after authorities say he carried out a van-and-machete attack near Berlin’s Pride celebration that killed one woman and injured 29 others.
Abdul Ballout, 21, allegedly drove a van into a crowd in Tiergarten park on Saturday night before attacking people with a machete. One woman died and 29 people were injured, according to Berlin authorities.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the evidence pointed to an Islamist terrorist attack. The violence unfolded around 10 p.m. on a park path a few hundred yards from the official closing party for Christopher Street Day, the German capital’s annual Pride celebration.
The attack did not occur inside the festival, along the parade route or at the closing party, the Associated Press reported. The crowd likely included festivalgoers and other people using the park.
Suspended sentence followed ISIS effort
Ballout traveled to Lebanon in 2025 intending to reach Syria and join the Islamic State group, according to Berlin prosecutors. He contacted people he believed were members of the terrorist organization before Lebanese authorities arrested him.
A Lebanese military court sentenced Ballout to three months in prison for offenses that included inciting religious and sectarian conflict. German authorities arrested him at a Berlin airport after he completed that sentence and returned home.
In May, a Berlin juvenile court convicted Ballout of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, publishing Islamic State propaganda on Instagram and other offenses. The court gave him a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months in youth custody. Prosecutors appealed, but Ballout remained free while that appeal was pending.
Police located Ballout at an allotment garden in Berlin’s Spandau district around 6 p.m. Sunday after a search lasting nearly 24 hours. He allegedly attacked special-unit officers with a stabbing weapon, prompting police to open fire. Ballout died at the scene despite efforts to revive him.
