Following Saturday's attack, police identified a suspect, releasing a search notice for a 21-year-old man named Abdul B., whom they described as known within Berlin's Islamist scene. The motive behind the attack has not yet been officially confirmed.
The suspect is approximately 190 cm tall, of slim build and was wearing a black hoodie and white trousers at the time of the attack. Police have warned that he may be armed and dangerous, urging the public not to approach him but to contact investigators immediately with any information.
The attack took place shortly before 10 p.m. in Tiergarten Park near the Brandenburg Gate, just hours after hundreds of thousands of people had marched through the center of the German capital in one of Europe's largest LGBTQ+ events. Organizers ended the march early and urged attendees to leave the area immediately.
Berlin police said a white vehicle drove into the crowd and crashed into a tree before the driver fled the scene. Dozens of police officers, emergency responders and forensic investigators remained at the scene throughout the night, securing evidence and interviewing witnesses.
Fire department spokesperson Dominik Pretz said one person died from their injuries. Of the 16 people injured, three are in critical condition, eight suffered serious injuries and five sustained minor injuries. Reuters, however, put the total number of injuries one higher.
Suspect Named
The investigation continued into the early hours of Sunday morning. Berlin police spokesperson said the suspect, a 21-year-old man identified as Abdul B., was known to security authorities and believed to have ties to Berlin's Islamist scene. Officers later issued a public search notice for the man, together with a description, as the manhunt continued.
Police also searched a residence in Berlin's Schöneberg district but did not find him there.
Investigators are also reviewing additional witness statements. Some eyewitnesses claimed that after the vehicle struck the crowd, the perpetrator or another person may have attacked people with a sharp object. The police have neither confirmed nor ruled out this version of events and are investigating it along with the possibility that more than one person was involved in the attack.
"We still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events or his role in the crime itself", added the police spokesperson.
Merz Promises Swift Justice
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the attack a "horrific act" and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
He added that he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were being briefed regularly on the investigation, and that the government would spare no effort to see the perpetrators punished.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner said the gathering, intended as a symbol of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, had instead become the target of an exceptionally brutal attack.
Germany's Recurring Security Nightmare
The attack comes at a time when security is already one of the dominant issues in German politics. Over the past two years, the country has experienced a series of attacks in which perpetrators used cars or knives against random civilians.
In February 2025, a driver plowed a car into a demonstration by the Verdi labor union in Munich, killing a mother and her two-year-old daughter and injuring dozens of others. Investigators at the time described the attack as Islamist-motivated.
Just a few months earlier, in December 2024, an attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg shook the country when a car plowed into a crowd of visitors, killing six people and injuring approximately 300 others. The incident sparked a heated debate over security failures and the protection of large public events.
In August 2024, a knife-wielding attacker killed three people and injured eight others during city celebrations in Solingen. The so-called Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, which led to stricter rules on carrying knives at public events and additional security measures.
These events went on to shape Germany's pre-election debate, with migration, the fight against Islamist extremism and the protection of public events becoming central themes in federal politics.
A March Rooted in History
Christopher Street Day is one of the largest public gatherings in Germany, drawing hundreds of thousands of people from across Europe to Berlin every year.
The event takes its name from New York's Christopher Street, where protests against police raids at the Stonewall Inn in June 1969 are widely regarded as the birth of the modern gay rights movement.
This year's march, organizers said, was meant to send a message of democracy, tolerance and diversity. Instead, it ended with a large-scale police and emergency response.
The investigation is ongoing, and police say it is too early to determine the exact motive or to rule out any lines of inquiry. What is certain is that Germany must once again come to terms with a violent attack on a public event, raising fresh questions about the security of large gatherings and the state's ability to prevent such attacks.