Berlin CSD attack: Suspect Abdul B. shot dead by police after one killed, 29 injured

The attack

Shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday, a white van drove at high speed into the crowd at the Christopher Street Day celebration in Berlin's Tiergarten. The vehicle moved along Ahornsteig parallel to Lennéstraße, striking multiple people before colliding with a tree. The driver then fled the scene. Some victims also suffered stab wounds, with a machete suspected as the weapon. One woman was killed, and 29 people were injured, some seriously. By Sunday afternoon, none of the injured remained in life-threatening condition, according to police.

The suspect

Authorities identified the suspect as Abdul B., a 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese descent. He was known to security services as an Islamist and had been listed in the threat register. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the man had undergone "Islamist radicalization" and had a "high number of crimes" in his past. Last year, Abdul B. repeatedly attempted to join the Islamic State group, according to the Berlin public prosecutor's office. He was sentenced to one year and ten months on probation, but the prosecution appealed the leniency. During the trial, he had largely confessed and publicly distanced himself from IS. He was released from juvenile detention in May 2026. The van used in the attack had been rented by him. A neighbor told Die Welt that Abdul B. had boasted about attack plans months earlier and expressed dissatisfaction with his life in Germany.

The man had already been "conspicuous" in the past. We are dealing with a high number of crimes and an Islamist radicalization of the 21-year-old.

Manhunt and police response

More than 2,200 officers, including heavily armed special units and undercover forces from other federal states, were deployed across Berlin. Police searched the Tiergarten with thermal imaging cameras but believed the suspect had left the area. In the early hours of Sunday, around 1:10 a.m., special forces raided Abdul B.'s registered address on Bissingzeile in the Schöneberg district, just 1.2 kilometers from the crime scene. Neighbors reported an explosion-like bang as officers entered the building. A helmeted figure was seen tearing down a curtain in a first-floor window. The suspect was not found there. A separate operation took place at his sister's address on Wildenbruchstraße. On Sunday, police tracked Abdul B. to a garden shed in the Spandau district, where he was shot and later died from his injuries. The Berlin Senate Interior Administration confirmed the killing. The federal prosecutor's office stated that a person was dead but did not immediately confirm the identity.

Reactions and aftermath

The final rally of the CSD at the Brandenburg Gate was canceled, and organizers urged attendees to leave the area. Federal Justice Minister Stephanie Hubig announced that the federal prosecutor would take over the investigation. A local politician, identified only as Preissler, said she had warned for years about such a threat and that the vehicle had been known to authorities through tips from her circle. Interior Minister Dobrindt had warned just days earlier of an elevated risk of attacks in Germany.