Utrecht Shooting Suspect Arrested, Dutch Police Say

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Associated Press

The suspect in the Utrecht shooting has been arrested, Dutch police say.

Three people were killed and five others injured on the attack on a tram, which authorities initially said was an apparent terrorist attack.

Police have arrested Gokmen Tanis, a 37-year-old Turkish man, in connection with the shooting.

“We have just been informed that the suspect has been arrested,” police chief Rob van Bree told reporters.

It is not yet clear where Tanis was detained.

The city was put into lockdown after the shooting, shortly after the morning rush hour and police conducted raids in several locations.

A photograph of the suspect was posted on social media by police, who warned people against approaching him.

The gunman’s motive remains 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.

Authorities had raised the terrorism threat in Utrecht province to its highest level, schools were told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increased security at airports, other vital infrastructure and at mosques.

The threat level was reduced by one notch after the suspect was arrested.

The National Counter-Terrorism Agency “reduced the threat level for the province of Utrecht to level 4. Motive is the arrest of the main suspect of the shooting,” it said.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks immediately after the incident, which came three days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

“Our country has today been shocked by an attack in Utrecht... A terrorist motive cannot be excluded,” Rutte said.

“The first reports have led to disbelief and disgust. Innocent people have been struck by violence... We are now doing everything we can to find the perpetrator or perpetrators as soon as possible.”

The mayor of Utrecht, Jan van Zanen, said three people had been killed and nine injured, three of them seriously. The number of injured was later lowered to five.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.

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