BERLIN — Police shot and killed Abdul Ballout at an allotment garden complex in Berlin's Spandau district at approximately 6 p.m. on July 26, 2026. Ballout rushed toward officers with a bladed weapon, prompting them to open fire, and he died at the scene despite resuscitation efforts by emergency responders.

Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots, was the suspect in a terrorist attack near Berlin's Pride festival the previous day. On July 25, 2026, at approximately 10 p.m., a white van drove into a crowd in Tiergarten park near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The van crashed into a tree after striking pedestrians. The attacker exited the vehicle and injured several people with a bladed weapon, believed to be a machete.

The attack killed one woman and injured 29 other people. Berlin's fire service reported that three people sustained life-threatening injuries, eight were seriously injured, and five had minor injuries. Organizers canceled the remainder of the Christopher Street Day Pride festivities and evening concert following the attack.

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in Berlin for Christopher Street Day, one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations. More than 2,200 police officers had been deployed for the Pride celebrations in Berlin on the day of the attack.

German authorities issued a wanted notice for Ballout, warning the public that he may be armed and dangerous. Police described Ballout as having a slim build, standing approximately 1.9 meters (6 feet 3 inches) tall, with black hair, and wearing a black hoodie and white pants. The police search for Ballout lasted nearly 24 hours before he was located in Spandau, Berlin.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that evidence indicated the incident was an Islamist terrorist attack. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the attack as an abhorrent act and an attack on society. Locals set up makeshift memorials at the scene of the attack.

Ballout was born in Germany in 2005, and his mother was naturalized in 2002. In May 2025, Ballout traveled to Lebanon with the intention of joining the Islamic State group in Syria. In Lebanon, Ballout allegedly made contact with individuals he believed were members of the Islamic State group during his 2025 trip.

Ballout was arrested in Lebanon in July 2025 and sentenced to three months in prison for incitement to religious and sectarian conflict. Ballout returned to Germany in November 2025 and was arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

In May 2026, a Berlin juvenile court sentenced Ballout to one year and 10 months in prison for preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state and publishing Islamic State propaganda. The Berlin juvenile court considered his pre-trial detention in Germany and Lebanon, as well as his confession, when imposing the sentence. The court suspended Ballout's sentence and placed him under probation supervision pending an appeal by prosecutors.

Ballout was released from detention in Germany pending an appeal of his May 2026 suspended sentence. Ballout had previous convictions for assault and robbery in 2020 and 2022. Abdul Ballout was previously convicted of robbing a victim of headphones in 2020, according to court records.

The attack occurred during one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations, drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees and requiring a significant security presence. The suspect's history, including travel to attempt joining the Islamic State group and a recent suspended sentence for preparing violence, has prompted scrutiny of probation supervision and counterterrorism monitoring. The incident resulted in one death and dozens of injuries, leading to the cancellation of major public festivities and a widespread police manhunt that ended with the suspect's death.