Who Is Abdul B? Manhunt Underway for Berlin Pride Van Attack Suspect
Newsweek · C · trust 77/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Police in Germany are hunting for a fugitive they have named Abdul B, who is suspected of driving a van into Berlin’s Pride festival, killing one person and injuring at least 16 others.
Police said that the suspect was 21 years old and had known links to Islamist circles, but say no arrests have been made as a manhunt continues in the German capital.
Around 10 p.m. local time Saturday, a white van had struck crowds at a Pride event in Tiergarten Park, hitting several people before colliding with a tree, police said.
The fatality was reported three hours later and police said several people had been injured with stabbing weapons in the attack, with one or more people believed to have fled the vehicle. According to police, the suspect was wearing a black hoodie and white pants, was of slim build, around six feet two and had black hair.
The public were warned by police to avoid direct contact with the suspect because he may be armed and dangerous.
"The suspect is known to police," police spokesperson Florian Nath said. "Our search for this person is proceeding at full speed."
Nath said there was still no information regarding the attacker's motives, the sequence of events, or his role in the crime. The van whose front was battered, was still at the scene on Sunday morning, next to a tree, The Associated Press reported.
The newspaper Bild reported that the suspect had been known to the police for charges including aggravated assault. He was said to be an ISIS supporter and a German citizen of Lebanese origin who had only been released from juvenile prison in May. Newsweek has contacted Berlin police for further comment.
Hundreds of thousands of people had come to the German capital on Saturday for one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.
The Pride event next to the Brandenburg Gate was called off around 10.15 p.m. and people were urged to go home and avoid going through the park.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the incident was "a violation of our free and cosmopolitan society."
"Berlin is the city of freedom—and our freedom has been terribly attacked today," Wegner said, according to Bild .
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz posted on X "what an abhorrent act in Berlin."
Saturday night's incident is the latest involving cars being driven into crowds in Germany over recent years.
On May 4, two people were killed and 22 injured in Leipzig after which a 33-year-old German citizen was arrested.
On March 3, 2025, a car drove into a pedestrian area in Mannheim killing an 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man and seriously injuring five others. The driver was identified by investigators as Alexander Scheuermann, a 40‑year‑old German citizen.
On February 13, 2025 at least 30 people were injured, some seriously, when a car was driven into a crowd in Munich by a driver identified as a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker named in local media as Farhad N.
In June, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia was jailed for life for an attack in which he drove a car up to 30 miles an hour in a Christmas market in Magdeburg on December 20, 2024, killing six people.
Read the original at Newsweek →
Open in TruthVane →