Utrecht shooting: Dutch police arrest suspect in deadly tram attack

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Utrecht shooting: Armed police hunt for gunman after attack on tram

Dutch police have arrested a man suspected of killing at least three people in a shooting on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Following the shooting authorities in the Netherlands immediately raised the terror alert for the area to the maximum level, schools were told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increased security at airports and other vital infrastructure and also at mosques.

Police said the suspect, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, who was born in Turkey, had been taken into custody after an hours-long manhunt.

At the end of a news conference on Monday evening, police chief Rob van Bree told reporters: “I just heard that the suspect we were hunting has been arrested.”

Hours after the shooting, the gunman’s motive remained unclear.

A prosecutor said it could be for “family reasons” and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting relatives of the gunman, said he had fired at a relative on the tram and had then shot at others who tried to help her.

Utrecht mayor Jan van Zanen said three people were killed and police put the number of wounded at five.

“We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more,” Mr van Zanen said.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said “a terror motive is not excluded” and went on to say the attack was met throughout the country with “a mix of disbelief and disgust”.

“If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence,” he added.

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Key Points

• At least three people killed, mayor says
• Police say suspect has been arrested
• Authorities say there may have been a 'terrorist motive'
• Prime minister Mark Rutte says he is 'deeply concerned'

[18 March 2019 18:07 · Samuel Osborne]

Dutch counter-terrorism authorities reduced the threat level for the central province of Utrecht by one notch after the suspected shooter was arrested.

The National Counter-Terrorism Agency "reduced the threat level for the province of Utrecht to level four. Motive is the arrest of the main suspect of the shooting," it said.

The level had been increased for several hours to the highest threat after three people were killed and five wounded in the shooting on a tram.

[18 March 2019 18:15 · Samuel Osborne]

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has said some wounded in the Utrecht tram attack "are still in critical condition".