German authorities have initiated an intensive search for an unapprehended suspect linked to local extremist networks after a vehicle drove into a crowd in Berlin on Saturday evening, leaving one person dead and 17 others injured.
The incident took place around 10:00 p.m. local time, when the vehicle plowed into pedestrians inside Tiergarten park, situated close to the iconic Brandenburg Gate. Emergency responders confirmed that among the 17 individuals receiving medical care, eight sustained severe injuries, with three remaining in critical condition.
Providing details from the location of the incident, a police representative said, as quoted by Reuters, "According to our latest information, the vehicle drove ... into the Tiergarten around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), injuring several people in the process, and then came to a standstill after hitting a tree here in the Tiergarten."
The official added, "It was empty, which is why we are currently working intensively to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators."
While early specifics surrounding the attack were still developing, law enforcement later announced they had identified a suspect connected to radical religious groups in the city.
A police spokesperson told journalists, according to Reuters, "We have now identified a suspected perpetrator. Measures against this suspected perpetrator, who has not yet been arrested, are underway. However, this suspected perpetrator is known to the police as a member of the Islamist scene here in Berlin."
Authorities described the vehicle as a white car, van, or minibus. According to a report by the German newspaper Bild, an eyewitness recounted seeing a man exit a white van after the collision and flee the scene on foot.
Saturday's incident adds to a recurring history of deadly vehicular attacks across Germany in recent years.
In May, two individuals were killed and three severely hurt in Leipzig when a driver with suspected psychiatric conditions drove into a pedestrian district.
Last year in Mannheim, a 40-year-old man facing mental health struggles killed two pedestrians in a similar crash. That event followed an earlier incident in Munich where an Afghan national allegedly drove a vehicle into a trade union demonstration, resulting in two deaths and more than 40 injuries.
Additionally, in December 2024, a car-ramming at a Christmas market in Magdeburg killed several people; the suspect in that case was a Saudi psychiatrist who had resided in Germany for nearly two decades and held documented anti-Islamic views.