On the evening of the 26th, Berlin police confirmed that the suspect in the vehicle-ramming incident in central Berlin was shot dead during a police operation.
Police stated that, in the evening, the suspect was found in a small garden plot in the Spandau district of Berlin. According to current information, the suspect, armed with a sharp weapon, charged at the officers on duty, prompting police to open fire. Despite immediate efforts by emergency medical personnel to resuscitate him, he died at the scene.
The 21-year-old suspect, Braut, had previously been designated by German security agencies as an Islamist threat for allegedly planning terrorist attacks and was receiving de-radicalization counseling before the incident.
German authorities have defined this case as an 'Islamist terrorist attack.' As such, the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office, which is responsible for investigating terrorism and crimes endangering national security, has taken over the investigation.
On the evening of the 25th in Berlin, a vehicle-ramming incident occurred: Braut allegedly drove a white van into crowds near the closing event of the Berlin Pride Parade, resulting in the death of one woman and injuries to 29 others, several of them seriously. After ramming the crowd, he reportedly attacked people with a sharp weapon and then fled the scene.
Suspect Is German National, Family Originates from Lebanon
According to various German media reports, Braut was born in Berlin in 2005 and holds German nationality, with family roots in Lebanon. Little is currently known about his childhood; it is only known that he once participated in community football matches in the Berlin Tiergarten district and lived not far from the site of the attack.
He was involved in violent crimes multiple times as a teenager: in 2019, at the age of just 14, he first came to the attention of law enforcement for assaulting someone at school; in 2020, he was involved in snatching someone's headphones; in 2022, he was convicted by a juvenile court for crimes including assault and robbery-extortion.
In recent years, Braut became increasingly radicalized and was regarded by German security agencies as an Islamist threat for his alleged support of the extremist group “Islamic State” (IS).
Sentenced to Three Months in Lebanon
According to official accounts, last year Braut attempted to travel to Syria to join IS. He was arrested in Lebanon, and received a three-month sentence there on charges of “inciting religious conflict.” After returning to Germany in November, he was detained for allegedly preparing a major violent crime endangering national security.
Berlin prosecutors indicted Braut for “preparing a major violent crime endangering national security,” seeking a three-year prison sentence. In May this year, the Tiergarten district court, applying Germany’s juvenile justice system, sentenced Braut to one year and ten months of “suspended sentence preparation,” and he was released.