Third suspect arrested in tram shooting
Reports: Utrecht gunman had prior record for manslaughter, petty crime
Dutch police said that they have arrested a third person on suspicion of involvement in the tram shooting in the city of Utrecht that left three people dead and five injured, The Associated Press reported.
Public prosecution office spokesman Ties Kortmann said on Tuesday that three people are now in custody - the alleged shooter, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis and two others who were also arrested on suspicion of involvement in the shooting on Monday morning.
Kortmann said Tanis is being held on suspicion of manslaughter with a possible terrorist motive, but added that investigations are continuing into what drove him to allegedly open fire in a tram.
Police forces and emergency services stand at the 24 Oktoberplace where a shooting took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on Monday. ANP via AFP |
Officials said they have not ruled out other possible motives and Dutch media citing his neighbors in Utrecht have speculated that the shooting may have been linked to a relationship.
Authorities said they were still investigating a likely terrorist motive for the shooting but Prime Minister Mark Rutte said they "cannot exclude" other motives, including a family dispute.
"We have just heard that the suspect we are looking for has been arrested," Utrecht police chief Rob van Bree told a dramatic news conference seconds after being handed a piece of paper with news of the arrest.
The city's mayor, Jan van Zanen, told the same news conference it was a "black day for Utrecht", while prosecution officer Rutger Jeuken said that "it looks like what we are dealing with is a terrorist motive".
The shooting came three days after 50 people were killed when an apparent immigrant-hating white supremacist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday prayers. There was no indication of any link between the two events.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Dutch authorities put the city on lockdown, raised the threat level in the area to the maximum of 5 and tightened security at airports and key buildings in the country. Police issued a photo of a bearded Tanis aboard a tram in a blue-hooded top, The Associated Press reported.
"If it is a terror attack," the prime minister declared, "then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger than fanaticism and violence".
Heavily armed officers with dogs searched for the killer, gathering at one point in front of an apartment building close to the scene. However, the suspect was later arrested at another location in the city. The threat level soon returned to 4.
Police said a red Renault compact car was carjacked shortly before the shooting and later found across town.
Local media said Tanis had been charged several times over the past years with offenses ranging from attempted manslaughter to petty crime in and around Utrecht. Two weeks ago he was in court on charges of raping of woman in 2017, news reports said.
The Netherlands has been largely spared the kind of attacks which have rocked its closest European neighbors in the past few years, but there has been a series of recent scares.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered his sympathies over the attack as he addressed a business event in his home state of Kansas co-hosted with the Netherlands.
"America stands with you. We will continue to do all we can to help you in this terrible time of tragedy," said Pompeo, who is due to attend an entrepreneurship summit in The Hague in June.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the European Union "stands side by side with the Netherlands and its people during these difficult times."
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was "hugely concerning news of a gunman opening fire on a tram in Utrecht, no doubt with innocent people just getting on with their day."
Last August, a 19-year-old Afghan with a German residence permit stabbed and injured two US tourists at Amsterdam's Central Station before being shot and wounded.
(China Daily 03/20/2019 page12)