Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Latest on deadly Berlin Pride attack suspect killed by police after hours-long manhunt

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Latest on deadly Berlin Pride attack suspect killed by police after hours-long manhunt · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Anna Schechter, updating breaking news from overseas. In Germany.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The man suspected of driving a vehicle into a crowd
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: this weekend during Berlin's Pride parade killed one person, injured dozens.
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  Speaker 1: Other police apprehended him, shot and killed him just hours ago. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I spoke with a police official in Berlin who told
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: me that the suspect ran towards them with a knife
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  Speaker 1: and they open fired in response. They tried to resuscitate him,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: but he died at the scene. Yes, the fire department there.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Despite immediate resuscitation, they were not able to revive him.
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  Speaker 1: So here we've got the German Chancellor speaking earlier today
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  Speaker 1: saying we have to remember our liberal values and lean
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  Speaker 1: into them. And joining me now is correspondent Intia's tie
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  Speaker 1: up from London. So what have authorities said so far?
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  Speaker 2: Look, there's a lot going on here, Anna, It is
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  Speaker 2: a very complex situation. But I think we can say
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  Speaker 2: with some clarity that the suspect has been killed. We
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  Speaker 2: understand that he was found in what's being described as
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  Speaker 2: an allotment. For those who don't know what an allotment is,
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  Speaker 2: it is essentially a small gardening area that people will
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  Speaker 2: tend to and we understand that it is in Spando,
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  Speaker 2: which is in the west of Berlin. Police are gathering
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  Speaker 2: in the area and though they have also confirmed that
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  Speaker 2: they are not looking for any other suspect. Now, this
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  Speaker 2: case has now been handed over to Germany's Murder Commission authorities,
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  Speaker 2: but it really just underscores the reality that this is
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  Speaker 2: one of a series of similar car ramming attacks. Now,
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  Speaker 2: the motivation of these attacks have always been somewhat different,
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  Speaker 2: but it speaks to this greater issue which many perceive
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  Speaker 2: here in Germany, which is that the government is not
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  Speaker 2: doing enough to protect them, That the government is not
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  Speaker 2: doing enough to keep people safe, and this case is
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  Speaker 2: yet another example of that. As more details emerge about
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the alleged suspects.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mtias. Joining us now on the
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  Speaker 1: phone is terrorism expert Colin Clark. He is executive director
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  Speaker 1: of the Sufon Center. So Colin, tell me, how did
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  Speaker 1: this guy slip through the cracks? He was known to
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  Speaker 1: German authorities dating back to twenty nineteen. In fact, just
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  Speaker 1: three and a half weeks ago, July third, police visited
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  Speaker 1: him because they were worried that he might be violating
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  Speaker 1: the Weapons Act. They didn't find anything, so he was out.
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  Speaker 1: But I also just to remind you he was convicted
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  Speaker 1: for trying to plan a terror attack. What happened here, Colin, Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: This is clearly the case of an individual who has
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  Speaker 3: slipped through the cracks. Amazing as it seems, because there's
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  Speaker 3: also reporting that he had tempted to travel to join
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: ISIS in Iraq and Syria at some point. We call
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  Speaker 3: those individuals frustrated foreign fighters, So individuals that attempt to
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  Speaker 3: leave their country in the West to join the Islamic
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  Speaker 3: State and are prevented from doing so by authorities. These
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  Speaker 3: are extremely high risk individuals because they're determined.
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  Speaker 1: That's right. He was actually arrested in Lebanon and then
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  Speaker 1: sent back to Germany because he's a German citizen. But
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  Speaker 1: he had this conviction. In fact, he was sentenced to
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  Speaker 1: a year and ten months and he was part of
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  Speaker 1: a deradicalization counseling group. Can you tell me about that.
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  Speaker 1: What is that in Germany and what went wrong there?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we don't know the details of what the deradicalization
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  Speaker 3: program looked like. Depending on the country, depending on the
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  Speaker 3: city or the municipality. They could all look different. Some
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  Speaker 3: of them are you know, have been heavily criticized for
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  Speaker 3: being too soft. You know, some have been widely mocked
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  Speaker 3: for having jihadis, you know, taking art classes to paint
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  Speaker 3: the back the feelings. Look, this is just a painful
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  Speaker 3: reminder in the West that the Islamic State poses an
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  Speaker 3: enduring threat. They're constantly attempting to radicalize homegrown violent extremists
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  Speaker 3: with their propaganda, and they're successful from time to time.
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  Speaker 3: And this is sadly just another case of that. But
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  Speaker 3: the German should have been on top of this. German
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  Speaker 3: law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It could indicate that they
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  Speaker 3: have a lot of suspects on their list that they're
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  Speaker 3: looking after and they don't have the manpower to surveil
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  Speaker 3: and provide oversight on all these individuals.
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  Speaker 1: And just drilling down a little bit on the deradicalization programming.
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  Speaker 1: So how common is that? How many countries have that?
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  Speaker 4: Are?
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  Speaker 1: Is there any data on success rates?
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  Speaker 4: No?
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  Speaker 3: I mean the data again, I'd love to do a
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  Speaker 3: study on that. But countries guard this pretty closely. Some
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  Speaker 3: of it's done by nation states, some of it's done
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  Speaker 3: by civil society organizations. There's no uniform and comprehensive approach
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  Speaker 3: to doing this. Unfortunately, and because we're unsure of the
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  Speaker 3: recidivism rates, it's hard to actually assess these comprehensively and accurately.
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  Speaker 1: So tell me about Germany and looking back over the
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  Speaker 1: last decade or two even how many attacks like this.
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  Speaker 1: I know we've had three in the last couple of years,
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  Speaker 1: but give me a sense of the picture in Germany
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to attacks just like this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Germany's you know taken in you know, this was
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  Speaker 3: a German citizen, but there's been a number of attacks
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  Speaker 3: from Afghan and Syrian migrants that have moved Germany. Germany's
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  Speaker 3: got a very active jihad scene, there's no question about it.
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  Speaker 3: And vehicular terrorism in particular is something that has plagued London,
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  Speaker 3: for Lynn at the Christmas Market with anas Amri, you know, Paris,
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  Speaker 3: New York City, Stockholm. We've seen this from across the board.
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  Speaker 3: This is an easy and simple way for radicalized individuals
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  Speaker 3: to conduct attacks because cars are everywhere, right, there's no
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  Speaker 3: prohibition against them, so it's finding a soft target and
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  Speaker 3: then taking action.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much Colin Clark for joining us. And
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  Speaker 1: now we have Anna Norwich Kovich who is a reporter
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  Speaker 1: for CBS News. They're in Berlin on the scene. Anna,
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  Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. Tell me is what is
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  Speaker 1: it like there now? Just hours after the suspect was
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  Speaker 1: shot and killed by police.
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  Speaker 5: Hi, So this situation really is Berlin, the city that
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  Speaker 5: actually represents freedom and democracy and actually also safety, feels
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  Speaker 5: pretty shocked that this.
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  Speaker 4: Actually happened last night. And we had a number of
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  Speaker 4: attacks in the last decade. So people I think they
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  Speaker 4: do have this sense of I to say, it's always
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  Speaker 4: in the back of their minds at big events. And
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  Speaker 4: the people who I spoke do, they say they, especially
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  Speaker 4: the gay gay community, they do not feel safe and
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  Speaker 4: they have this in the back of their minds that
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  Speaker 4: all big events carry certain threats. And this was everyone
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  Speaker 4: I spoke to today. They did say this is something
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  Speaker 4: that always that's always there when when they attend big
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  Speaker 4: events and especially Pride events, and the city overall is shocked.
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  Speaker 4: The response is massive from politicians and from activists and
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  Speaker 4: from the gay community especially and LGBTT plus community in
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  Speaker 4: Germany that this actually yeah managed, that the attacker managed
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  Speaker 4: to carry out this attack, even though actually security is
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  Speaker 4: heightened in Germany ever since, actually really the twenty sixteen
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  Speaker 4: Christmas market attacks.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're seeing images there from Berlin and the community there.
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  Speaker 1: It's just I think you brought up such a great
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  Speaker 1: point that Berlin it's such an a hub for artists,
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  Speaker 1: for freedom, freedom of expression, and to have the Pride
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  Speaker 1: Parade specifically targeted. I know there have been other kind
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  Speaker 1: of Western symbols that have been targeted, like Christmas markets
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  Speaker 1: and the like, and this is not the first time
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  Speaker 1: where the perpetrator slipped through the cracks. So is there
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  Speaker 1: a call for German security officials to step up their
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  Speaker 1: game here?
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  Speaker 4: So I would like to compare the car ramming attacks
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  Speaker 4: and stabbing attacks to gun violence in America. The car
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  Speaker 4: ramming attacks and stabbing attacks are actually just as common
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  Speaker 4: as gun violence in America, we just don't have the
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  Speaker 4: access or while guns are not widely wildly use and
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  Speaker 4: accessible in the country. So this is really something that
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  Speaker 4: became also part of our reality here in Germany that
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  Speaker 4: the thread of terror, terror attacks and attacks like that,
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  Speaker 4: especially programming and stabbing attacks, it is always there. But
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  Speaker 4: the question really is there is no reckoning. They were
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  Speaker 4: talks about implementing CCTV and at big events and every
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  Speaker 4: time time and time again, we have these conversations in
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  Speaker 4: Germany that maybe only at big events it would make
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  Speaker 4: sense to implement and to have CCGV in place. But
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  Speaker 4: what you have to keep in mind is the really
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  Speaker 4: really strict data production loss in Germany, which actually date
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  Speaker 4: back to starzy times. So when it comes to surveillance,
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  Speaker 4: if it's in public space or also the surveillance of
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  Speaker 4: potential extremists and people who could potentially carry out attacks
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  Speaker 4: like in this case, it's very very hard to implement.
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  Speaker 4: And on all sides of the political stress spectrum in Germany,
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  Speaker 4: people are actually very critical of surveillance. So even when
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  Speaker 4: we about tightening security and making public space and public
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  Speaker 4: events and events like that it's safer, there's always the question,
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  Speaker 4: how are we going to do this without actually making
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  Speaker 4: people feel uncomfortable because because they will be CCTV and
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  Speaker 4: look different kinds of surveillance. So that's a big question,
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  Speaker 4: and I think the debate will only start again now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we have the same thing here with the
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  Speaker 1: debate between freedom and liberty and security, and it's a
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  Speaker 1: balancing act. But you bring up a good point that
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  Speaker 1: it's not just the security apparatus, but it's also the
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  Speaker 1: criminal justice system because this individual was convicted for essentially
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  Speaker 1: plotting a terror attack and there was a sentence given
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  Speaker 1: of a year and ten months, but it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: that didn't take hold. There were opportunities to challenge that,
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  Speaker 1: and so this person was in limbo and how and
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  Speaker 1: about and one thing that just struck me. We were
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  Speaker 1: messaging about this earlier. I saw that police were at
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  Speaker 1: his home three and a half weeks ago on suspicion
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  Speaker 1: that he had violated the Weapons Act weapons laws in Germany,
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  Speaker 1: and they only found toy guns and so they couldn't
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  Speaker 1: do anything and they left. Is that part of the
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  Speaker 1: conversation amongst officials and members of the community as they're
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  Speaker 1: talking about this issue.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, exactly. And also keeping people or suspect and custody
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  Speaker 4: is only allowed up to a certain time. And here
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  Speaker 4: I cannot tell you exactly. We're still trying to figure
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  Speaker 4: out and confirm what was the issue there because he
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  Speaker 4: was charged in the juvenile court because some of his
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  Speaker 4: crimes dayed back to the time when he was still
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  Speaker 4: under eighteen. So this was the issue there that they
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  Speaker 4: could not enforce and force the charge against him. So
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  Speaker 4: I think there's it's different in America.
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  Speaker 1: Here you can, but he let to stop you there
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  Speaker 1: because he was over eighteen when he posted the Isis
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  Speaker 1: propaganda that was back in twenty twenty four, he would
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  Speaker 1: have been over eighteen, and then when he traveled to Lebanon,
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  Speaker 1: he was over eighteen. So there's something there where he
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  Speaker 1: had prior convictions from dating back to when he was
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  Speaker 1: just thirteen or fourteen years old. Actually, the first time
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  Speaker 1: he had a conviction was in twenty nineteen for an
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  Speaker 1: assault on the school yard, and yet for some reason
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  Speaker 1: there was a carryover where he was still being held
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  Speaker 1: accountable as a juvenile, even though some of what he
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  Speaker 1: was doing he was doing when he was over the
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  Speaker 1: age of eighteen. So something to drill down on with
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  Speaker 1: sources there, Anna.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, exactly. This is what we will have to establish
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  Speaker 4: now while we are investigating this whole case, because in
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: the past, especially younger, younger suspects who carried out similar
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: attacks were treated also by the juvenile court. So it
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  Speaker 4: has to be it has to do. It has to
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  Speaker 4: do with the crimes that he committed before reaching the
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  Speaker 4: age of eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: And last question, just how are people feeling? Do they
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  Speaker 1: feel safe? Walking around in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany
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  Speaker 1: given this attack.
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  Speaker 4: So the people I spoke to today, of course were
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: shocked and were scared, because the whole city was felt
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  Speaker 4: affected by yet another attack, especially at a time where
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: people are celebrating diversity and freedom. But overall, the sense
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  Speaker 4: of security in Germany, I would say is rather good
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: and rather strong, and there's still trust in the authorities.
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  Speaker 1: Anna, thank you for being there in Berlin to report
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  Speaker 1: this story.