Suspect Abdul Ballout [Berlin Police/Reuters=Yonhap News]

Local media reported that Abdul Ballout (21), the suspect accused of driving a vehicle into a crowd in Berlin, Germany, causing 30 casualties, was shot and killed on the 26th (local time).

The suspect was killed after being shot by a special police unit during an arrest operation in Spandau, northwestern Berlin, that afternoon, according to reports from broadcasters such as rbb.

Ballout is accused of driving a white Citroën van into pedestrians at the Tiergarten park in the heart of Berlin around 10:15 p.m. the previous day, killing one person and injuring 29 others, after which he brandished a machete.

The location of the crime was right in front of the parade route for Christopher Street Day (CSD), an LGBTQ+ festival attended by hundreds of thousands. At the time, a concert was being held as part of the festival in front of the Brandenburg Gate, approximately 500 meters away.

Ballout, a German national of Lebanese descent, had previously been caught attempting to join the extremist terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) and served three months in prison in Lebanon last year. He was arrested again upon returning to Berlin in November of last year and was released on a suspended sentence this past May.

Investigative authorities have classified this incident as a terrorist attack by an Islamic extremist and transferred the case to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which specializes in terrorism, that afternoon.