Berlin Pride attack latest: Police name 21-year-old suspect after one killed in attack on Berlin’s Pride event

Berlin’s annual Pride celebration commemorates the 1969 Stonewall rebellion in New York, which began after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.

The Berlin LGBTQ+ event is one of Europe’s largest Pride celebrations. Hundreds of thousands of people join the parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day.

The Berlin police said the vehicle was white, describing it as possibly a car or minivan or minibus.

Tabloid newspaper Bild cited a witness as saying it was a van and that a man emerged from it and fled on ‌foot.

Among the injured, eight had serious injuries and of those, three were in life-threatening condition, a fire brigade spokesperson said.

“We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin,” the police spokesperson told reporters.

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered peacefully in the German capital for the annual Christopher Street Day celebrations, one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ events, before the apparent attack brought it to an abrupt end.

A large number of emergency service vehicles were at the scene.

“It’s one of the worst days for the queer community and a day I personally hoped I’d never have to experience… I’m shocked,” said Julian Miethig, who attended the event.

Christopher Street Day draws hundreds of thousands of people to the German capital each year. The event commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York and combines a parade with political demands for equality, inclusion and protection against discrimination.

One person was killed and 17 others injured, with some in life-threatening condition, after a vehicle mowed down a crowd near Berlin’s Pride celebrations on Saturday evening, setting off a manhunt for ⁠those responsible, the police said.

Hours after the apparent attack many details remained unclear, but police said the vehicle struck multiple people after charging into the city’s central Tiergarten park close to the Brandenburg Gate.

They later said they had identified an Islamist as a suspect and were seeking his arrest.

“According to our latest information, the vehicle drove … into the Tiergarten around 10pm (2000 GMT), injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a ⁠tree here in the Tiergarten,” a police spokesperson at the scene said.”It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators.”

Germany has seen a series of vehicle-ramming incidents since the 2016 attack onBerlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas market, prompting repeated security alerts around public gatherings, Christmas markets, carnival events and demonstrations.

Berlin, July 2026 Christopher Street Day: One person was killed and 17 others injured.

Leipzig, May 2026 Central Pedestrian Zone: Two people were killed and three others seriously injured when a car drove into a central pedestrian zone in Leipzig.

Mannheim, March 2025 City Centre Crowd: Two ​people ⁠were killed and 11 others injured when a 40-year-old man drove a car into a group of pedestrians in Mannheim.

Munich, February 2025 Labour Union Demonstration: A 24-year-old ‌Afghan national allegedly drove a car into a labour union demonstration in Munich, killing a woman and her 2-year-old daughter and injuring dozens of others.

Magdeburg, December 2024, Christmas Market: Six people were killed and more than 200 injured when a car ploughed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg.

Berlin, June 2022 Shopping District: A 29-year-old German-Armenian man drove into a crowd in a busy Berlin shopping district, killing a teacher and injuring 14 of her students after mounting the pavement.

Trier, December 2020 Pedestrian Zone: Five people, including a 9-week-old baby, were killed and up to 15 injured when ‌a drunken 51-year-old German drove through a pedestrian area in the western city of ​Trier.

Volkmarsen, February 2020 Carnival Parade: A man drove his car into a carnival parade ‌in the western town of Volkmarsen, injuring dozens ⁠of people, including 20 children.

Berlin, December 2016, Breitscheidplatz Christmas Market: Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum ‌seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a ​truck, killed its driver and then drove it into ‌a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing ​11 more people and injuring dozens. He was shot dead by police in Italy four days later.

Berlin police said they have identified a suspect who has not been arrested.

Police said he has ties to “Islamic circles” in the German capital.

“The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” said police spokesman Florian Nath. He did not identify the suspect by name.

Nath added that “we still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself.”

Germany has a recent history of vehicles being used in attacks, Reuters reports.

In December 2024, several people were killed in a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. The suspected perpetrator was a psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric who had lived in Germany for almost two decades, per Reuters.

In 2025, two people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man whom authorities described as psychologically unwell drove a car into a group of pedestrians. Weeks before that, an Afghan national suspected by prosecutors of having carried out a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than 40, including children.

In May, a man believed to have mental health issues drove his car into a pedestrian zone in the eastern German city of Leipzig, killing two people and seriously injuring three.

Police say they searched the Tiergarten area with thermal imaging cameras looking for suspects.

“There are no people in the Tiergarten anymore,” police spokesman Florian Nath told reporters.

The Tiergarten park will remain closed overnight.

A suspect in the Berlin attack has been identified as a member of the city’s “Islamist scene”, according to police.

The suspect has not yet been arrested, a spokesperson for Berlin police told reporters at the scene on Sunday morning, per Reuters.

“We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin,” said the spokesperson.