BERLIN — German authorities on Sunday issued a wanted notice for a fugitive suspect in a van ramming near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and injured at least 16 others.
Police and prosecutors asked for help in finding a 21-year-old, whom they identified as Abdul B.
They said he is believed to have injured several people with a moving vehicle late Saturday evening, and that one or more people apparently then left that vehicle. Several people were also apparently stabbed, they added.
Sunday’s notice warned the public to avoid “direct contact” with the suspect, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.
Police had said earlier that they had identified a suspect who has ties to Islamic groups 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,” police spokesperson Florian Nath said.
Nath added that investigators had no information on “his specific motives.”
White van hit people in Tiergarten park
According to police, a white van drove into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m. and hit several people before colliding with a tree. The closing party at the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was ongoing nearby at the time, following a parade with some 80 trucks that had made its way through downtown Berlin earlier in the day.
Police said a woman was killed. Berlin’s fire service said that three people sustained life-threatening injuries, another eight were seriously injured and five had slight injuries.
The Pride event next to the Brandenburg Gate was called off around 10:15 p.m. and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said he was shocked by “this cowardly, abhorrent attack on people celebrating peacefully.”
Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin to celebrate on Saturday, though it’s unclear how many were still at the festival by late evening. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.
Overall, more than 2,200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning to protect the Pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the city.
Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that in addition to the crash some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds — but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that “following a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner.”
“This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” Wegner said. “I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.”
Meanwhile, authorities called on possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any video or photos they might have taken at the scene of the attack.
The city also activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.
Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the around 80 floats that participated in the parade.
Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that “something bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.”
He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin’s Pride celebrations.
“It’s a dark day for the community,” he said.
