Three people were killed and several others were injured in a shooting on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrech, the mayor said on Monday.
Turkish state-run Anadolu agency, while citing his relatives, said the suspect shot a relative and those trying to help due to “family matters”.
Police released a picture of the Turkish-born suspect, naming him as 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, and warning people not to approach him.
Police in Utrecht said they were reducing the number of people who were injured to five. Earlier, police said nine people had been wounded in the shooting. The death toll of three in the shooting has not changed.
This handout picture released on the twitter account of the Utrecht Police on March 18, 2019 shows Turkish-born Gokmen Tanis. — AFP PHOTO / UTRECHT POLICE
Dutch police announced the updated number of wounded in a tweet but did not immediately give a reason for changing the number.
“At this stage, we can confirm three deaths and nine wounded, three of them seriously,” Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen had earlier said in a video statement on Twitter.
“We are working on the principle that it was a terrorist attack,” he added.
Armed counter-terrorism police launched a huge manhunt for the attacker, urging local residents in one of the Netherlands’ biggest cities to stay indoors in case of further incidents.
Later, the mayor withdrew advice issued earlier by his municipality for the city’s residents to stay indoors in the aftermath of a deadly shooting on a tram.
In a video tweeted by the Utrecht municipality, the mayor said that the earlier advice to remain indoors was based on fears that shots had been fired at more than one location in the city.
He now said “that is not the case, as far as we know”.
