Local officials have revealed that the individual suspected of the fatal attack near a Berlin Pride celebration had previously attempted to join ISIS. The suspect, who was killed in a police shootout on Sunday night, had been released from detention in May after receiving a sentence for preparing a serious act of violence that posed a threat to the state.
These findings have ignited a intense debate across Germany regarding the decision to grant the 21-year-old suspect probation. “How can a sentence be suspended for someone identified as a clear threat?” Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, questioned during an interview with the public broadcaster ARD.
Authorities stated that police shot and killed the suspect on Sunday night after he charged at officers while armed. This confrontation occurred one day after he was suspected of killing a woman and injuring 29 others at the event. German officials have categorized the attack as an act of Islamist terrorism.
In compliance with German privacy laws, the suspect has been identified only as Abdul B. Prosecutors stated he had attempted to join ISIS in May 2025 by traveling to Lebanon, where he has family ties, in an effort to reach Syria. Following his arrest in Lebanon in July 2025, he was sentenced to three months in prison for offenses including incitement to religious and sectarian conflict.
The individual was previously arrested at the Berlin airport last November upon his return from Lebanon. Following pretrial detention, a juvenile court sentenced him in May to one year and ten months in prison for offenses including “preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state.” Prosecutors also noted that he had shared ISIS propaganda on social media in 2024.
Due to specific provisions in German juvenile criminal law, his sentence was suspended on probation. Prosecutors noted that the court’s decision was influenced by several factors, including the nine months he had already served, his confession, and his expressed distancing from ISIS. The court also observed that no immediate threat had materialized at that time.
Prosecutors have since filed an appeal requesting a more significant sentence.
