Suspect in Berlin pride car ramming attack shot by police after brief escape.

 

A memorial in Berlin after the attack. NPR/AP.

A suspect in the Berlin Pride car ramming attack has been shot and killed by police after initially escaping them. NPR. A 21 year old man named Abdul Ballout was shot as he charged at police with a bladed weapon. Ballout was the main suspect of an attack on a Pride festival's closing party, killing one person and wounding at least 29 people. The attacker rammed a van into the crowd and then got out of his vehicle and slashed people with his machete. The attack was an example of Islamic terrorism. Ballout was born in Germany but had Lebanese heritage.

My Comment:

Ballout was a classic example of a long term terrorist that was somehow out on the streets despite a long criminal and terrorist history. He was posting pro-ISIS content on social media and had traveled to Lebanon in a failed attempt to join ISIS directly. He was imprisoned briefly in Lebanon but was released and came back to Germany where he was arrested and convicted, again, on terrorism charges. He was released on a suspended sentence and was supposed to be attending a deradicalization programs but was not. 

In short, he is the kind of guy that should have been, at best, in prison for a very long time. Instead he was out on the streets and was able to attack a pride parade with the predictable result of a bunch of people getting hurt and one person getting killed. Had either Germany or Lebanon had the realization that a guy that tried to join ISIS in 2025 is not someone that should be free because this is the obvious result. 

So why was he free? I am guessing Lebanon didn't want to keep him for pretty obvious reasons. He wasn't a citizen and it was a lot easier for them to send him back to Germany. But the Germans? They were just being weak on crime and weak on terrorism. Ballout made some comments about giving up terrorism. But obviously, he was lying. 

Having this attack happen at a Pride festival is also telling. Obviously, the motivation is that in Islam, homosexuality and other LGBT behavior and beliefs, are haram, forbidden for good Muslims. This isn't a fringe thing, it's a core belief of Islam. So it's no surprise that Germany is having problems with their LGBT community coming under attack from radical Muslims. 

The police response here was a bit puzzling. The suspect was able to escape after the attack and was on the run for hours. He was shot and killed after being at large for almost a day. You would have thought he would have been caught on scene, but he was not. 

There does seem to be some mitigating factors for the police response though. This attack occurred outside of the festival and was targeting people who had left. The festival itself had good security, but the attacker was unfortunately smart enough to attack outside of those defenses. It also occurred near a large park and the suspect was able to get into after he was done with his attack. In short, it wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. 

Still, it's not surprising that this attack occurred. Even if you ignore the fact that this guy was on Germany's radar and shouldn't have been on the streets in the first place, it does show that the problem with many of these immigrants is their kids. Instead of assimilating to German culture, Ballout stuck with his Islamic beliefs and was radicalized. This is a known phenomenon and it's fairly common for 2nd generation immigrants.