Dutch authorities are ‘seriously’ investigating a potential terrorist motive for Monday’s deadly shooting on a tram in the city of Utrecht, after it was revealed that the main suspect has no known link to the victims.
Police and prosecutors said suspicions of terrorism had been prompted by a letter found in the suspect’s getaway car, a stolen red Renault Clio found abandoned a few hundred yards from the scene.
Turkish-born Gökmen Tanis, 37, allegedly opened fire on a tram in Utrecth on Monday morning, killing three people – including a teenager and a father-of-three – and injuring five others.
The shooting saw the terrorism threat level in Utrecht raised to the highest possible, and sparked a manhunt during which police released photographs of Tanis captured on the tram’s CCTV just minutes before the shooting began at 10.45am.
This photo, released by Utrecht police, shows Turkish-born Gökman Tanis, 37, on the tram’s CCTV just minutes before the shooting began at 10.45am on Monday. He was later arrested by police late Monday afternoon
Tanis, who has been accused of rape by a 47-year-old woman, is seen on the tram just a few minutes before shooting began, which left three people dead – including a married father and a teenager – and five others injured
Incident: Emergency services cordoned off a tram in Utrecht, Holland, where an assailant opened fire on commuters at around 10.45am local time on Monday
Dutch police take into custody Turkish-born Tanis, 37, after finding the suspect in the 11-flat property
Tanis – who ‘was known’ to authorities – was detained during a raid on the Oudernoord district of Utrecht last night, and the threat level in the province has since been downgraded from level five to four.
Two other arrests were also made by police probing the attacks, and two unnamed men from Utrecht aged 23 and 27 remain in custody.
Tanis’ relatives in Turkey told the state-run Anadolu news agency yesterday that the 37-year-old had opened fire on a relative ‘for family reasons’ and later shot at others trying to intervene.
However, Utrecht Police and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service have today said that the investigation has so far not revealed any relationship between the main suspect and the victims.
‘So far, a terrorist motive is being been seriously taken into account,’ the Public Prosecution Service said in a statement.
‘This is based on a letter found in the getaway car among other things and the nature of the facts. Other motives have not been excluded, these are also being investigated.’
Many people could be seen carrying flowers to 24 Oktoberplein in central Utrecht today to pay tribute to the victims of yesterday’s shooting
Poignant: A tram passes in the background as flowers are seen near the site of Monday’s shooting which left three people dead and several others wounded
A woman and her child lay a bunch of flowers at a makeshift memorial at 24 October square in Utrecht
Flowers with a note which reads ‘We are sad and deeply shaken, Utrecht has been hit hard; straight through the heart. Strength !! Peace and Love,’ have been left near the site of the shooting
Flowers are placed at the site of a shooting in Utrecht, the Netherlands
This comes as the three victims of yesterday’s shooting have been revealed as a 19-year-old woman from the nearby city of Vianen, a 28-year-old man from the same neighbourhood as Tanis and a 49-year-old married father-of-three.
The male victim worked in IT for the Dutch rail network management company ProRail, and coached several youth football teams with the Utrecth club C.O.V. DESTO in his spare time.
In a statement released by C.O.V. DESTO, Chairman Frits Veldhuis paid tribute to the yet unnamed man, writing that he had been involved in the club for a long time ‘where he himself played football, tennis and also trained both his sons and daughter with passion.’
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said some people wounded in the tram attack ‘are still in critical condition’, with ‘three people fighting for their lives’.
Dutch authorities today revealed that the three people seriously injured are a 20-year-old woman from Utrecht, a 74-year-old man from the nearby village of De Meern and a 21-year-old woman from Nieuwegein, north of Utrecht.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte said some people wounded in the tram attack ‘are still in critical condition’, with ‘three people fighting for their lives’.
Yesterday, several Dutch newspapers, including Algemeen Dagblad, reported that Tanis had appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing on March 4 in connection with a rape case, accused of sexually assaulting his victim several times, and threatening to burn down her home, in 2017.
In 2013, he was suspected of attempted manslaughter by ‘opening fire on a flat’, and in recent years had been accused of committing burglary, shoplifting, drink-driving and assaulting a police officer by spitting them in the face.
Earlier today, the alleged victim of the 2017 sexual assault said she feared the suspect was going to be ‘coming after her next’ when his photograph was shared online.
‘I was terrified, I thought: he is coming to see me,’ the woman, named only as Angelique, 47, told Algemeen Dagblad, but added that she did not believe Tanis was a terrorist, saying ‘his act has nothing to do with faith’.
‘He’s just crazy, a drug user, you name it. I have warned police so often [about him] before. He is not a terrorist, but a psychopath. If only they had listened to me.’
Police officers are seen in front the building where the main suspect of the shooting has been arrested in Utrecht
Armed police raided a first floor apartment in Oudenoord, around two miles from where the attack happened, at 4pm, more than five hours after the incident
Police stand outside the flat. Tanis was hauled out of the flat at gunpoint with his face covered, after officers climbed over a barbed wire wall to surprise the alleged shooter from the back of the 11-flat building
Dutch counter terrorism police prepare to enter a house after the shooting incident on Monday
Special Police Forces inspect the tram where the shooting took place during Monday afternoon, while the suspect was still at large in Utrecht
At least three people died and a number of people were injured in the shooting on a tram in Utrecht, The Netherlands
Incident: This map shows the location of the shooting in the city of Utrecht, south of Amsterdam
Speaking yesterday, Prime Minister 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’.
‘If it had terror motives, that is being investigated. But it was very serious. The world shares our grief,’ he said.
The Prime Minister has issued instructions for flags outside government buildings to fly at half-mast today, to show ‘the whole of the Netherlands shares [the victims’] deep pain’.
Armed police raided a first floor apartment in Oudenoord, around two miles from where the attack happened, at 4pm, more than five hours after the incident.
A witness told MailOnline: ‘The police told me to go inside my home for my own safety. There were many officers and they had drones flying above too.’
Tanis was hauled out of the flat at gunpoint with his face covered, after officers climbed over a barbed wire wall to surprise the alleged shooter from the back of the building, which contains 11 flats.
Dutch counter terrorism police use a robot as they prepare to enter an apartment block after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands, just a few hundred yards from the scene of the attack
Reporting for duty: The black labrador and the police officer are seen outside the apartment block on Monday afternoon after gearing up
A photo shared on social media shows an armed policeman surrounding a building in Utrecht during the manhunt
Video footage shows police surrounding an apartment block in Utrecht a few hours after the shooting took place
A second man was arrested during the raids, with authorities suspecting he was involved in today’s deadly incident, according to a police press release.
Following Tanis’ arrest the National Counter-Terrorism Agency ‘reduced the threat level for the province of Utrecht to level four. This brings the threat level for the Netherlands as a whole back to four,’ the head of the Dutch counter-terrorism agency Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said.
Utrecht was put into lockdown after the shooting which authorities initially said was an apparent terrorist attack, with schools told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increasing security at airports and mosques.
One witness told NOS News they had seen an injured person running out of the tram with blood on her hands and clothes who then fell to the ground.
‘I brought her into my car and helped her. When the police arrived, she was unconscious,’ the witness, who was not named, told the broadcaster.
Video footage filmed just hours after the shooting shows heavily armed anti-terror officers in front of an apartment block some 200 yards from the scene the shooting
Dutch police searched for the shooter ‘with all possible means’ on Monday, before making an arrest of Tanis
All tram traffic in the city had been shut down in the wake of the shooting on a tram, pictured, on Monday morning
Police could be seen amassing some 200 yards from the site of a shooting in Utrecht, Netherlands
Local resident Jimmy De Koster also witnessed the incident and told De Telegraaf: ‘I was standing at the traffic lights on 24 Oktoberplein and I saw a woman lying down, I think she would have been between 20 and 35 years old.
‘She shouted ‘I didn’t do anything’. At that time I heard ‘bang, bang, bang’, three times.’
‘It’s frightening that something like this can happen so close to home,’ said Omar Rahhou, who said his parents lived on a street cordoned off by police. ‘These things normally happen far away but this brings it very close, awful.’
The Utrecht police said a square at a tram station outside the city centre had been cordoned off as emergency services attend the scene. Officials added that trauma helicopters were sent to the incident at 24 Oktoberplein.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted his concern in the wake of the incident, saying the UK ‘stands with the people of the Netherlands’.
‘Hugely concerning news of a gunman opening fire on a tram in Utrecht, no doubt with innocent people just getting on with their day,’ Mr Hunt wrote.
‘We are in contact with Dutch authorities, urgently seeking further information. The UK stands with the people of the Netherlands.’
All major political parties including Rutte’s VVD announced that they were suspending campaigning ahead of Wednesday’s local elections which will determine the make-up of the Dutch senate.
Armed police at the scene where a shooting took place, as police say they are considering a terrorist motive
Ambulances are seen next to the tram where the shooting took place on Monday morning, at around 10.45am local time
Emergency services at the 24 Oktoberplace where a shooting took place in Utrecht
Members of the military police arrive to heighten security around the Binnenhof in The Hague, as security was increased at key sites across The Netherlands in the wake of the shooting
The Netherlands has been largely spared the kind of attacks which have rocked its closest European neighbours in the past few years, but there has been a series of recent scares.
In August, a 19-year-old Afghan with a German residence permit stabbed and injured two American tourists at Amsterdam’s busy Central Station before being shot and wounded.
In September, Dutch investigators said they had arrested seven people and foiled a ‘major attack’ on civilians at a major event in the Netherlands.
They said they had found a large quantity of bomb-making materials including fertiliser likely to be used in a car bomb. The men were arrested in the cities of Arnhem and Weert.
In June, two terror suspects were arrested while close to carrying out attacks including at an iconic bridge in Rotterdam and in France, prosecutors said.
The men aged 22 and 28, who were of Moroccan origin, made a film at the Erasmus bridge in which they sang a martyrdom song, they said.