Speaking to reporters on Sunday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said evidence pointed to this being an “Islamist terrorist attack.”

“We are dealing with an alleged perpetrator who had previously attracted attention for a large number of criminal offenses, radicalization and affiliation with the Islamist environment,” said Dobrindt.

A statement issued by the Berlin prosecutor’s office revealed more details about Ballout’s criminal record.

In May 2025, prosecutors said he traveled through Türkiye to Lebanon, intending to join the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. While in Lebanon, he allegedly came into contact with several people he believed to be members of IS.

He was arrested in Lebanon in July 2025 and sentenced to three months in prison for inciting religious and sectarian conflict.

Then, in November 2025, he returned to Germany, where he was arrested at Berlin Brandenburg Airport and remanded in custody.

In May of this year, he was sentenced to one year and ten months in prison for “preparing a serious act of violence that endangers the State.” The decision was deferred for six months and he was placed under the supervision of a probation officer.

He was previously convicted of assault and robbery in 2022, and of stealing headphones from a victim in 2020.