A gunman opened fire on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday morning.
Three people have been confirmed dead by Dutch authorities and according to the Mayor of Utrecht, Jan Van Zanen, five have been injured by the suspect, who has now been detained.
“We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume, a terror motive. Likely there is one attacker, but there could be more,” Mr. Van Zanen said.
Police released an image of the suspect several hours after the shooting, identifying him as 37-year-old Turkish man, Gokmen Tanis.
At 10:45 am, he began shooting inside a tram, directing his fire at one woman, allegedly a relative, and any who attempted to help her before fleeing the scene.
The incident, feared to be an act of terror, caused schools and buildings of national importance to be put on high alert with trains being cancelled and mosques being closed for security reasons within the city.
Utrecht university closed down all of its buildings not allowing anyone in or out during the day.
Armed military police were put on “extra alert” and deployed across the country as well as outside The Hague.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte stated that as yet a terror motive has not been excluded saying, “If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence”.
This original suspicion has been thrown into doubt by reports in Turkey and the Netherlands that indicate the act may have been a part of a family dispute.
Since the arrest of Tanis, Utrecht’s threat level has been lowered from five to four, in line with the rest of the country.
