A 65-year-old Polish woman from Warsaw has been identified as the sole fatality in the attack on the Equality Parade in Berlin last Saturday. The information was established by Polsat News journalist Tomasz Lejman and confirmed by Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór and Berlin’s mayor. Twenty-nine people were wounded in the assault, including the victim’s daughter.
The attack occurred in Berlin’s Tiergarten park, near the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, where a white van driven by 21-year-old Abdul B. plowed into a crowd walking along the parade route. Thousands were participating in the event.
According to Polish authorities, the deceased was a 65-year-old woman from Warsaw. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór stated that her daughter is among the wounded and is receiving consular support.
Official reactions and condolences
– Very moved by what happened on Saturday, my thoughts are with you, and especially with the daughter and family of the murdered woman – said Berlin mayor Kai Wegner, quoted by dpa, after offering condolences to Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Germany, Jan Tombiński.
– Shocked and deeply saddened by the news that the victim of the tragic attack in Berlin was a Polish citizen. We extend our sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased – wrote Maciej Wewiór, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman, on social media.
Wewiór added that the Polish consul in Berlin remains in contact with German authorities and will provide the victim’s family with necessary consular assistance.
Suspect neutralized and motive
Witnesses reported that after crashing the vehicle into a tree, the driver fled on foot. German police launched a manhunt, issuing a warrant and releasing the suspect’s image.
The attacker, a German citizen of Lebanese origin, was shot dead on Sunday evening in an allotment garden area in the Spandau district of Berlin. Police special units reported he attacked them with a bladed weapon, prompting them to open fire. Despite resuscitation efforts, the man died at the scene.
German authorities have determined the suspect was a sympathizer of the Islamic State (IS). Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the assault as an Islamist terrorist attack.
Źródło: Polsat News, Fot. Polsat News
