Man held after three shot dead on tram
A MAN was arrested after a shooting on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht left three people dead.
Amid confusion over the motive behind the attack, Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said the attacker, identified as Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis, 37, “was known” to authorities and had a criminal record.
“If it had terror motives, that is being investigated. But it was very serious. The world shares our grief,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
The attack came three days after 50 people were killed when an immigrant-hating white supremacist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers.
In the immediate aftermath of the Utrecht attack, Dutch military police tightened security at airports.
A MAN has been arrested following a shooting that left three people dead and five more injured on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
Police have arrested Turkish- born Gokmen Tanis, 37, in connection with the shooting in Holland’s fourth largest city.
Authorities initially said it could have been a terror attack, but later a police spokesman said it might have been a domestic dispute as confusion reigns over motives.
Meanwhile, three of the wounded were said to be “fighting for their lives” in hospital.
The man was detained on a street in the north of the city several hours after the shooting, which happened at 10.45am local time on the central 24 Oktoberplein junction.
Utrecht spent much of the day in lockdown after the incident, with authorities asking residents to stay at home.
Schools were closed and security was increased, while counter-terrorism police worked to locate the suspect earlier yesterday.
A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of Tanis said he was “associated with the incident” and warned people against approaching him.
Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said: “We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. [It is] likely there is one attacker, but there could be more.”
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said that “a terror motive is not excluded” and that the attack was met throughout the country with “a mix of disbelief and disgust”.
He said the nation had been “jolted by an attack” which he described as “deeply disturbing”.
“If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: our nation, democracy, must be stronger than fanaticism and violence,” he added.
But a police spokesman, Bernhard Jens, said the attack could be a family dispute and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, citing relatives of the Turkish-born suspect’s family, said Tanis had fired at a woman for “family reasons” then shot at others who tried to help her.
One witness told local media that “a man started shooting wildly”. Another witness Daan Molenaar said he did not believe it was a terrorist attack, adding: “The first thing I thought was, this is some kind of revenge or something, or somebody who’s really mad and grabbed a pistol.”
The national terrorism coordinator, Pieter-jaap Aalbersberg, raised the alert level to its maximum.
Security was also increased in the nearby cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague as well as at Schiphol airport. Raids were reportedly carried out and counterterrorism officers were pictured surrounding a building near the 24 Oktoberplein junction, where the tram attack took place.
The shooting happened at a busy junction in a residential area.
Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram.
Anti-terror officers gathered in front of a block of flats close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen.
A police spokesman said one person might have fled by car and did not rule out the possibility that more than one assailant was involved.
Our nation, democracy, must be stronger than fanaticism and violence