He then attacked passers-by with a machete, according to federal interior minister Alexander Dobrindt, who described the attack as Islamist terrorism. Police shot Ballout dead in the Spandau district of western Berlin the following evening, ending a manhunt of almost 24 hours. Days before the attack, Pantisano had told the rbb programme Abendschau that queer people were being politically targeted “from the right and above all by conservative forces, by right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis”. Pantisano argued that the term “conservative forces” should also include religious groups that oppose LGBTQ+ rights. He said: “Yes, because by conservative forces I also include all religious groups, which all have a problem with us, and Islamists belong to that.”