Netherlands tram attack fuels new terror jitters
UTRECHT, Netherlands — Gunshots shattered the tram ride in a heavily Muslim neighborhood of this old Dutch city. The prime minister called it possible terrorism. SWAT teams rushed in, residents were ordered indoors, and all mosques closed as police sought a killer in a country that had been spared large-scale terrorist attacks.
Suddenly the mayhem Monday in the Netherlandss seemed as if it might be another planned public slaughter, like the mosque massacre that had traumatized the people of Christchurch, New Zealand.
The suspect, it turned out, was a Turkish immigrant described by acquaintances as a sometimes-religious man with a criminal record who might have been entangled in a dispute with his ex-wife.
It was about 10:30 a.m. when a gunman opened fire on the tram in Utrecht’s Kanaleneiland neighborhood, heavily populated by Turkish and Moroccan immigrants. Someone slammed on the emergency brakes, and other passengers screamed, clamoring to escape, according to witness accounts. At least three people were killed and five injured, some by shattering glass, and the assailant stepped off the tram and fled.
“I saw a woman lying outside the tram,” said Daan Molenaar, a witness. “She was being helped by passers-by leaving their cars. Then the suspect came out of the tram with a gun in his hand, and I thought I’ve got to get out of here.”
The suspect was later identified by police as Gokmen Tanis, 37, an immigrant from the central Turkish town of Yozgat. Tanis had been arrested before and is facing a rape charge, according to the Dutch national broadcaster and people who know him.
Police conducted houseto-house raids in the area and arrested Tanis eight hours later, just as officials were holding a news conference on the attack.
“He’s very religious,” but also “a real guy of the streets, aggressive as well,” Alptekin Akdogan, who said he knew Tanis, told the New York Times.
Zabit Elmaci, 39, said he used to work with Tanis, washing dishes in a restaurant called Abrikoos. He described Tanis as “always in trouble.”
“I don’t remember him as a religious person, but about two years ago he started acting weird, so I gradually stopped seeing him,” Elmaci said.