Van slams into crowd at Berlin Pride festival, killing 1 and injuring 16, as police identify suspect

BERLIN (AP) — A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin's famed Pride festival on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.
Police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.
"The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed," said police spokesman Florian Nath.
Nath added that "we still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself."
According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., which is next to the route that the pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree.
Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that in addition to the crash some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds — but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that "following a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner."
"This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society," Wegner said.