A suspect who attacked pedestrians with a vehicle and a knife in Berlin, resulting in 30 casualties, was shot dead by police after a 20-hour manhunt.
Berlin police reported that they located the suspect, Abdul Balut, 21, around 6 p.m. local time on July 26 in a garden plot in the northwestern district of Spandau.
As Balut charged at special forces with a knife, police opened fire. Emergency responders attempted to provide first aid, but he died at the scene.
Balut is accused of driving a white van into pedestrians in Tiergarten Park around 10 p.m. the previous night. After crashing into a tree, he exited the vehicle and wielded a weapon, believed to be a machete, before fleeing.
The attack resulted in one death and 29 injuries.
The incident occurred near the route of the Christopher Street Day (CSD) parade, a LGBTQ festival, which was concluding about 500 meters away at the Brandenburg Gate.
German authorities are treating the incident as an act of Islamic extremist terrorism. The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the investigation to determine the motive and whether there were accomplices.
Balut, a German national of Lebanese descent, had previously been investigated for attempting to join the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
He was reportedly sentenced to one year and ten months in prison for preparing violent acts that threatened national security but was released on probation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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