Berlin CSD attack: Police face questions over suspect's sentence and shooting

As more information emerges about the recent attack on Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Berlin, police are facing questions about the fatal shooting and prior sentencing of suspect Abdul B.

Berlin police shoot CSD attack suspect Abdul B

Berlin police confirmed on Sunday evening that Abdul B., the man suspected of attacking the capital’s main LGBTQ+ Pride event on July 25, had been found and fatally shot by police.

The 21-year-old German citizen is suspected of ramming a minivan through a crowd in Tiergarten at 10pm on Saturday evening, killing one woman and seriously injuring 29 people. Abdul B. is thought to have fled the scene, which sparked a 16-hour-long city-wide manhunt until police located him in an allotment garden complex in the western suburb of Spandau.

Speaking to SPIEGEL, a woman who was in the allotment garden complex when police located Abdul B. said she heard a total of between six and nine shots being fired. According to a police press release published on Sunday evening, Abdul B. “attacked special operations officers with a bladed weapon, whereupon they opened fire”. 

Police spokesman Florian Nath told reporters that the suspect came towards police officers with a bladed weapon; “that is why a police firearm discharge occurred”, though it is still unclear why police fatally shot the suspect. Police say they attempted to resuscitate the suspect, but he died at the scene.

Police face questions over Abdul B sentencing

Authorities are also facing questions over their prior knowledge of Abdul B. and a court sentence he received as recently as May 2026.

According to DIE ZEIT, the Tiergarten local with Lebanese heritage posted Islamic State (IS) propaganda videos on Instagram back in summer 2024 and has been known to police since at least May 2025, when he travelled to Lebanon with the intention of travelling on to Syria and joining IS.

Instead, he was arrested in Lebanon, where he was found guilty of inciting religious or sectarian conflict, resulting in a three-month prison sentence. In November 2025, he returned to Berlin and was detained upon arrival at BER Airport. 

He then spent six months in pre-trial detention until May 2026, when a German court convicted him of "preparing a serious act of subversive violence". The court gave him a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months. 

Since his sentencing, according to DIE ZEIT, Abdul B. was “monitored by authorities [...] but not around the clock, as there are too many such individuals”. Just a few weeks ago, he posted a photo on Instagram posing with a weapon. Police searched his flat in Schöneberg and found a toy gun. 

As part of his sentence, Abdul B. was ordered to take part in a deradicalisation programme. He had already attended two initial sessions, and the third session was scheduled to take place on July 27. 

What exactly led the 21-year-old to attempt to join IS and carry out the deadly homophobic attack remains unclear. In an interview with SPIEGEL, Abdul B.'s father, Tawfik, described the family as Shia, but "not extremely religious", and that they did not support IS. 

Tawfik said his son attended school until he was in 10th grade (around 15 or 16 years old), and had since worked jobs in security and as a driver. He told SPIEGEL that he had not allowed his son to grow a long beard, calling it a symbol of Islamic extremism, and that he believed his son had been brainwashed. 

At a press conference on Sunday evening, police said that the German murder commission would now take over the case.