Berlin Pride Attacker Pledged Loyalty to ISIS in Phone Video, Prosecutors Say

Overview

• During the weekend, a vehicle drove into a crowd at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day Pride event and the driver then attacked people with a machete, killing one person and injuring 29.
• Police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Abdul Rahman Ballout and shot him dead during an operation after he fled on foot.
• Prosecutors reported finding a masked video on the suspect’s phone in which someone pledges allegiance to the Islamic State, and investigators are treating the case as a possible extremist-motivated attack.
• Investigators recovered a machete sheath in the vehicle and are examining forensic evidence, video and witness accounts to establish timing, authorship of the pledge and whether the attacker had outside help.
• Ballout had been convicted in May for preparing a serious act of violence after trying to join ISIS and received a suspended sentence, prompting public criticism and an Interior Ministry review of security and judicial handling.