The Latest: ‘No indication’ Utrecht shooter knew victims
Posted March 19, 2019 3:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
UTRECHT, Netherlands — The Latest on the tram attack in Utrecht, the Netherlands (all times local):
11:50 a.m.
Dutch prosecutors say they are taking seriously the possibility that a man suspected of killing three people and seriously wounding three more in a shooting on a tram in Utrecht had a terrorist motive.
In a statement Tuesday, prosecutors say the nature of the attack and a note found in a getaway car give them reasons to consider terrorism as a motive. They say other possible motives also are being investigated.
The prosecutors also say that investigations so far do not indicate that the main suspect, a 37-year-old man of Turkish descent who was arrested hours after Monday’s attack, knew any of the victims.
Prosecutors say a weapon was recovered when he was arrested.
The statement says that three people were seriously wounded in the shooting and four more suffered light injuries.
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9:15 a.m.
Dutch police say 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.
Public prosecution office spokesman Ties Kortmann said 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 Monday morning.
Kortmann says Tanis is being held on suspicion of manslaughter with a possible terrorist motive, but adds that investigations are continuing into what drove him to allegedly open fire in a tram.
Authorities say they have not ruled out other possible motives and Dutch media citing his neighbours in Utrecht have speculated that the shooting may have been linked to a relationship.
The Associated Press
