Van slams into crowd at Berlin’s Pride event, killing 1 and injuring 16; police identify suspect

BERLIN — A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin’s famed LGBTQ+ event on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.

Berlin police said they have identified a suspect, who has not been arrested. He has ties to Islamic extremists in the German capital, police said.

“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.

Earlier, police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.

“We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,” Nath said on a short video released on the Berlin police account on X.

According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., which is just off the route where the Pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene. It was “definitely a lot of police,” one officer said.

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. It was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts, police said.

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 searching for missing friends or family members.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at Berlin’s Pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

The Pride event in front of the city’s iconic Brandenburg Gate downtown 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.

Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music and cheering some 80 floats that participated in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had 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.

Grieshaber and Brodersen write for the Associated Press.