A van drove into people gathered for Berlin’s Pride festival on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring at least 16 others, prompting authorities to cancel the celebrations and a concert in the German capital.

Berlin police said they had identified a suspect who had not been arrested. Police said the individual was known to authorities and had connections to Islamic circles in Berlin.

Police spokesman Florian Nath said officers were searching for the suspect but did not release the person’s identity. He stressed that investigators had not yet determined the suspect’s specific motive, the exact sequence of events or the person’s precise role in the incident.

Some of the victims were initially reported to have life-threatening injuries. Police urged people to immediately leave the area as emergency crews arrived to treat the injured and secure the scene.

According to authorities, a white van entered Berlin’s Tiergarten park at around 10 p.m. and struck several people before crashing into a tree. The park is located next to the route used earlier by the Pride march.

Police said a large number of officers were deployed to the scene. More than 2,200 police officers had already been assigned across Berlin to provide security for the Pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events taking place throughout the city.

Investigators questioned witnesses during the night and examined reports that some victims may also have suffered stab wounds. Police said it was too early to draw conclusions about those reports or determine whether they were connected to the vehicle crash.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock over the incident, saying the attack followed a peaceful Pride parade celebrating tolerance and an open society.

Wegner said he had confidence in police and security authorities as they worked to determine what happened and identify the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Authorities also appealed to witnesses to provide any photographs or videos they had taken at the scene. Berlin activated a crisis hotline to assist people looking for missing friends or relatives following the incident.

Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in Berlin earlier Saturday for Christopher Street Day, the city’s annual Pride celebration and one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ events.

The main celebrations near the Brandenburg Gate were canceled at about 10:15 p.m. after the incident. A concert performance was interrupted, and people were instructed to leave the area and avoid traveling through the Tiergarten.

Before the crash, the event had proceeded peacefully, with crowds marching through Berlin, dancing to music and cheering as around 80 floats took part in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ celebration near the Brandenburg Gate, said he was preparing to attend an afterparty when a friend told him that something serious had happened in the area.

Miethig later went toward the Tiergarten and said he was shocked that such an incident had occurred during Berlin’s Pride celebrations.

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

The investigation remains ongoing as police continue searching for the identified suspect and work to establish the circumstances and motive behind the incident.