Dutch tram shooting suspect says he acted alone as he CONFESSES

The suspected gunman in the deadly Utrecht tram shooting has confessed and said that he acted alone, Dutch prosecutors have announced. 

Gokmen Tanis, 37, faces murder and terrorism charges after apparently opening fire on Monday in a shooting which killed three people.   

The Turkish-born suspect is due to appear before a judge today.  

Tanis also faces charges of attempted murder or manslaughter and making threats with a terrorist intent.

The nature of Monday’s attack and a note found in a suspected getaway car suggest a possible terror motive, prosecutors have said.  

Investigations continue into whether the suspect’s actions ‘flowed from personal problems combined with a radicalised ideology’.

Prosecutors have said there was no evidence of a link between Tanis and the three people who were killed. 

The three victims were a 19-year-old woman from Vianen, south of Utrecht, and two men aged 28 and 49 from Utrecht itself, the statement said. 

Three others were seriously wounded and four suffered light injuries, according to prosecutors. 

Tanis remains in custody after his detention was extended today by two weeks, the maximum allowed.     

Emergency: Dutch special police forces inspect the tram in Utrecht after a gunman opened fire in the public transport carriage and killed three people 

Authorities earlier said they had found a suspicious letter in a getaway car used by the Turkish-born suspect. 

The letter made them ‘seriously’ consider terrorism might have been involved in Monday’s rampage.

A 40-year old man, who was held on Tuesday because Tanis was arrested in his house, was released on Friday after authorities found no evidence to link him to the shooting. 

Two other men who were arrested Monday in connection with the shooting have also released.  

Armed police captured Tanis after an eight-hour manhunt that virtually shut down the Netherlands’ fourth largest city and saw security stepped up at airports and key sites across the country. 

Police said they found a red Renault Clio that the suspect had carjacked before the attack and used as a getaway car afterwards. They had also found a firearm after his arrest. 

A stream of mourners laid flowers on Tuesday at the site of the attack near the 24 Oktoberplein square.  

Tributes: Students lay flowers near the site of the shooting as Dutch police and prosecutors pursue ‘every lead there is’

It has also emerged that the suspect had only been freed from jail in a rape case two weeks ago.

Tanis was originally arrested in 2017 then released from pre-trial detention, before being taken back into custody when he breached his bail conditions, the central Netherlands district court said.

He was freed again at the start of March.

In 2014, he was also convicted of ‘illegal possession of weapons’ and attempted theft but acquitted of attempted manslaughter. He was also convicted in recent months for shoplifting and burglary.

Broadcaster NOS meanwhile said some of his relatives had links to fundamentalist Islamic groups, but also that he was known for unstable behaviour after divorcing his wife two years ago.

A woman involved in the rape case told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper: ‘He is completely mad and uses drugs. I have previously warned the police against him. He’s not a terrorist but a psychopath.’

Support for the Netherlands poured in from around the world, including the United States, the EU and Russia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: ‘America stands with you. We will continue to do all we can to help you in this terrible time of tragedy.’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country’s intelligence agency was ‘looking into’ the attack.