admin German authorities on Sunday issued a wanted notice for a fugitive suspect in the van ramming near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and injured at least 16 others.
Police and prosecutors asked for help in finding the 21-year-old suspect, whom they identified as Abdul B. They said he is believed to have injured several people with a moving vehicle late Saturday evening, and that one or more people apparently then left that vehicle.
Several people were also apparently stabbed, they added.
Sunday’s notice warned the public to avoid “direct contact” with the suspect, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.
Police, emergency personnel and attendees of the CSD stand near the scene in Berlin. AFP
Nath added that investigators had no information on “his specific motives.”
Police conducted operations in the city as they searched for the suspect. Those included a search at an apartment in Berlin’s Schöneberg district in the early hours of Sunday, but police said they found no one there.
Julian Miethig, who had attended the Pride festival nearby, said he wanted to go to an after-party 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.”
“It’s a dark day for the community,” he said.
This undated handout image released by Polizei Berlin on Sunday shows a 21-year old suspect identified by police as Abdul B. AFP
According to police, a white van drove into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m. and hit several people before colliding with a tree. The closing party at the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was ongoing at the time next to the Brandenburg Gate, a short distance away, following a parade with some 80 trucks that had made its way through downtown Berlin earlier in the day.
Police said a woman was killed. Berlin’s fire service said that three people sustained life-threatening injuries, another eight were seriously injured and five had slight injuries.
Associated Press
