Berlin police shoot dead CSD attack suspect Abdul B. in Spandau garden colony; one woman killed, 29 injured in Saturday rampage
Abdul B., 21, was shot dead by SEK officers in a Spandau allotment garden on Sunday evening after running at police with a bladed weapon. The manhunt followed a van-and-machete attack near Berlin's Christopher Street Day parade that killed one woman and injured 29 people.
The attack on Saturday
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Berlin on Saturday for the Christopher Street Day parade, with more than 80 trucks carrying music toward the Tiergarten and the large closing party at the Brandenburger Tor. Around 22:00, as the streets were still crowded, sirens from dozens of rescue vehicles and police cars began wailing around the celebration route. A man drove a white van into people on a dark path in the park near the southern edge of the Tiergarten, where many were leaving the CSD festivities. The van then crashed into a tree, and the driver got out and fled. According to investigators, he also allegedly attacked passersby with a machete.
The attack left one woman dead and 29 people injured, some of them seriously. Dozens of paramedics and emergency doctors from the Berlin fire department treated the wounded on the street next to the park in the middle of the night. Injured people were pushed into ambulances and taken to hospitals. In a quickly erected tent, chaplains and counselors spoke with witnesses who were in shock. The police cordoned off the entire park and searched for the attacker using thermal imaging cameras from the air, but he escaped in the darkness.
The suspect
The Berlin State Criminal Police Office quickly identified a suspect: Abdul B., 21 years old. The Berliner Zeitung reported his full name as Abdul Ballout. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, he had drawn attention in the past through a high level of criminal offenses. The Berlin Public Prosecutor General's Office stated that he attempted in 2025 to join the Islamic State terrorist militia abroad. The federal government considers the attack to be Islamist terrorism.
Manhunt in Spandau
- White van drives into CSD attendees near Tiergarten southern edge; driver flees on foot after crashing into a tree
- Police cordon off park, deploy thermal cameras from helicopters; 1 woman dead, 29 injured, some seriously
- LKA identifies suspect Abdul B., 21; federal government labels attack Islamist terrorism
- SEK locates Abdul B. in a Spandau garden colony; suspect runs at officers with a stabbing weapon
- SEK opens fire; firefighters attempt resuscitation; Abdul B. dies at the scene
Following a nationwide search, police located the suspect on Sunday evening in a garden colony in Berlin-Spandau, a district west of the city center. The allotment garden area, a Laubenpieperkolonie with garden fences and small cabins, became the scene of a special operations unit (SEK) deployment. According to police accounts, the suspect ran at officers with a stabbing weapon, and SEK officers opened fire. Neighbors reported hearing up to nine shots. Despite immediately initiated resuscitation measures by the fire department, the man died at the scene. Helicopters circled overhead during the operation.
The Berlin Senate Interior Administration confirmed that the person killed was indeed the wanted suspect Abdul B. The public prosecutor's office stated that the operation was connected to the attack on Saturday but declined to provide further details, referring all inquiries to the prosecutor's office. It remained unclear whether there were any additional arrests. The suspect was dead less than 24 hours after his attack on the CSD.
After a festival of visibility
The attack brought an abrupt end to what had been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of people at one of Berlin's largest annual events. The CSD, a festival of visibility and freedom for the LGBTQ+ community, turned within hours into a crime scene, a manhunt, and a fatal police shooting in a quiet garden colony. The sequence from the Saturday evening attack through the overnight search to the Sunday evening SEK operation has shifted the city's focus from its liberal summer rituals to security concerns and an ongoing investigation.
