A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin’s famed 2SLGBTQ+ event on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert hours after they had begun.

Berlin police said they have identified a suspect who has not been arrested and has ties to Islamic extremists in the German capital.

“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,” police spokesperson Florian Nath said. He did not identify the suspect by name.

Earlier, police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. Firefighters and ambulances were out with many emergency staffers at the scene to attend to the victims.

“We are conducting an intensive search for possible suspects,” Nath said in a short video released earlier on the Berlin police account on X.

‘Attack on our free and cosmopolitan society’

According to police, a white van had driven into Tiergarten park, which was just off the route that the Pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was “definitely a lot of police.”

Overall, more than 2,200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning to protect the Pride parade and other related events in the city.

Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and 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, adding that his thoughts were with the victims, their families and friends.

“I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.”

Meanwhile, authorities called on possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any video or photos they might have taken at the scene of the attack.

The city also activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.

‘Dark day for the community’

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at the city’s Pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It’s one of Europe’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ celebrations.

The Pride event in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate in downtown Berlin was called off at about 10:15 p.m. local time, and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and avoid taking the route through Tiergarten park.

Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the roughly 80 floats that participated in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended events at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that “something bad happened there, and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.”

He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin’s Pride celebrations.

“It’s a dark day for the community,” Miethig said.