German authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Abdul B., 21, the main suspect in the LGTBI+ Pride Day attack on Saturday night in Berlin, in which one woman died and 16 others were injured after being hit by a white van. After the initial hours of confusion, everything is now focused on catching him and checking whether he acted alone or was accompanied. Authorities say it is unclear if he was alone because both airbags in the vehicle used in the attack deployed, but in some models, this happens even if only the driver is present.
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Hundreds of officers are participating in the search efforts, both in Tiergarten Park — which they have been searching inch by inch since the morning — and in the main train stations of the German capital, where security measures have been increased and where the Federal Police’s elite unit, GSG 9, has been deployed.
But who is Abdul B.? According to German media, his parents are from Lebanon and he was born in Berlin in 2005. He lived in the city center, on a street in the Schöneberg district, which borders the Tiergarten district, just a few minutes’ walk from Potsdam Square and the scene of the mass run-over just after ten at night.
The building where he lives, on Bissingzeile street, is a six-story block. His surname appears taped to the doorbell, leading to speculation that he might have simply been subletting, a very common practice in the German capital. According to the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel, officers already raided his home at night and searched it for almost ten hours. In the morning, the apartment was sealed off. They also searched his sister’s apartment in the Neukölln district.
According to information from Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR, the suspect was classified as an Islamist “threat.” Security authorities therefore considered him radicalized and willing to resort to violence.
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He allegedly tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS), several media outlets claim, adding that he was arrested in late 2025 at Berlin airport when returning from Lebanon. According to investigation sources, he remained in pre-trial detention until May 2026 on suspicion of preparing a terrorist offense. His period of confinement then ended regularly, as confirmed by the Justice Administration.
The suspect has been known to the police for several years for assault and robbery, and is attributed to the Islamist environment. This was confirmed by the Berlin police a few hours after the attack on Christopher Street Day (CSD) — as Pride Day is known in Berlin — in the early hours of Sunday.
German media state that he had recently shown himself, according to a security officer, to be “more radical in his discourse” among his acquaintances. According to information not yet confirmed by the police, during his imprisonment he was ordered to participate in a deradicalization program. According to information from the newspaper Die Welt, the suspect had an appointment to continue it this Monday.
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