BERLIN, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The suspect in a vehicle ramming and stabbing attack on Saturday in Berlin was shot dead by police on Sunday evening, local police said in a statement.

Police said the suspect was located at around 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) in the Spandau district of Berlin. Preliminary findings indicated that the suspect ran toward police officers with a stabbing weapon, prompting officers to open fire.

On Saturday evening, a van was driven into a crowd near Berlin's Tiergarten park. The driver then attacked passersby with a weapon believed to be a machete, leaving one woman dead and 29 others injured. The incident occurred near the site of the city's Christopher Street Day pride parade.

Earlier on Sunday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the incident was suspected to be an "Islamist terrorist attack."

The suspect, born in 2005, is a German citizen of Lebanese descent, the minister said, adding that the suspect had a record of multiple offenses and radicalization, and had previously been sentenced by a German court to one year and 10 months in prison, which was suspended on probation.

Following the attack, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the incident on social media platform X, calling it an "attack on our society." ■