CCTV captures Turkish ‘gunman’ on Dutch tram moments before ‘terrorist-motivated’ shooting spree left one person dead and several others wounded – as police warn public not to approach suspect
Police release photo of Gökmen Tanis, 37, captured on the tram’s CCTV just minutes before the shooting
Three people have died and nine people are injured after the shooting in Utrecht, central Netherlands
One or several gunmen, ‘who may have had a terrorist motive’, opened fire on a tram in the city centre
The assailant or assailants fled the scene and police have since surrounded a building in the city
Dutch government has raised terrorism threat level to highest possible, and schools are on lockdown
Incident took place just three days after a terror attack on two mosques in New Zealand where 49 were killed
By SARA MALM
DAILYMAIL.COM
18 March 2019
Dutch police have named a suspect in the ‘terrorist-motivated’ shooting on a tram in Utrecht, which resulted in the death of three people and left nine others injured.
Police tweeted a photograph of Turkish-born Gökmen Tanis, 37, believed to have been captured on the tram’s CCTV just four minutes before the incident at 10.45am this morning, and urged the public to ‘look out for him but do not approach.’
The gunman, who may not have been acting alone, fled the scene, reportedly in a red Renault Clio compact sedan, which has since been found abandoned in Utrecht.
The photograph was released as heavily armed police gathered in front of an apartment block some 200 yards from the scene the shooting, where the suspected gunman is believed to be holed up. Police said they were searching for the shooter ‘with all possible means.’
Shortly after 12.30pm local time, the Dutch government raised the terrorism threat level to the highest possible in the province of Utrecht, and local residents in one of the Netherlands’ biggest cities have been urged to stay indoors in case of further incidents.
Monday morning’s incident in Utrecht took place just three days after the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a white supremacist opened fire in two mosques, killing 49 people.
The head of the Dutch counter-terrorism agency Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg said in a statement that the ‘threat level has gone to 5, exclusively for the Utrecht province,’ referring to the highest level, adding that the shooting ‘appears to be a terrorist attack’.
‘The culprit is still on the run. A terror motive cannot be excluded,’ he said in a Twitter message. He called on citizens to closely follow the indications of the local police.
Utrecht University has put the entire campus on lockdown, and according to Dutch news website NOS News, all train traffic to Utrecht Central has stopped.
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