Prosecutors consider terror motive in Utrecht tram shooting

Dutch prosecutors are taking seriously the possibility that the deadly shooting on a tram in the central city of Utrecht was an act of terror.

The nature of Monday’s attack and a note found in a suspected getaway car suggest a possible terror motive, prosecutors said, but they add that other possible motives also are being investigated.

They did not elaborate on what was written in the note but anti-Islam legislator Geert Wilders, speaking in parliament, said it expressed support for the suspect’s “Muslim brothers”.

Prosecutors confirmed the deaths of three people: a 19-year-old woman from the neighbouring town of Vianen and two men aged 28 and 49, both from Utrecht.

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

Tanis, a 37-year-old of Turkish descent, is being held on suspicion of “manslaughter with terrorist intent”, although authorities have not ruled out other possible motives.

Prosecutors said officers recovered a weapon during the arrest.

Officials said Tanis has a long criminal record in the Netherlands involving a variety of offences, although none were terror-related.

He also was convicted in March of shoplifting and burglary in 2018. He was handed a prison sentence of four months for the burglary and a week for the shop theft, but has not served any time yet.

In 2014, he was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of illegal weapon possession and attempted theft.

Police spokesman Martin de Wit said two other people are in custody following Monday’s attack.

Prosecutors are questioning all three suspects and it is not yet clear if Tanis will face an investigating judge on Tuesday.

Such hearings are generally held to request suspects are detained for longer pending further investigations.

The Dutch parliament held a moment of silence to remember the victims of the attack.

Referring to the mosque shootings in New Zealand, prime minister Mark Rutte said: “Because of what happened in Utrecht we feel an even stronger bond with the people of Christchurch.

“It was not a bad dream but the hard reality with which we woke up. This really hit our confidence and our sense of security.”

Members of the public and Utrecht’s mayor on Tuesday placed flowers near the busy traffic junction where the attack unfolded.

Dutch media published details of two of the victims. The 19-year-old woman reportedly worked in a cafe in Vianen, and one of the men was a father-of-three who volunteered as a football coach in Vleuten, a town west of Utrecht.

The football club posted a message saying it heard “with great dismay and astonishment” that the trainer of an under-19 boys’ team and under-11 girls’ team died in the shooting.