At about 10:45 CET, a shooting took place on a fast tram near the 24 Oktoberplein junction in Utrecht. The shooter fled in a car, leading to a large scale police manhunt, which lasted for much of the day. Several hours later, the police arrested Gökmen Tanis, a 37-year-old man born in Turkey. In addition, two further arrests were made in connection to the shooting. Police impounded a red Renault Clio in connection with the attack. Initially, it was reported that one of the women shot may have been the target due to "family reasons" and other passengers coming to her aid were then also targeted. However, law enforcement later announced there was no evidence of any connection between Tanis and the victims. Instead, a note found in the getaway car hinted at terrorism being the motive.
Victims
Three people were killed and seven others were injured, three severely. The injured were taken to the University Medical Center Utrecht. The three people killed were identified as two men from Utrecht aged 49 and 28, and a 19-year-old woman from the nearby city of Vianen. A neighbour of the murdered 19-year-old started a crowd-funding action to cover the costs of her funeral, reaching the target within hours. It received so many donations that it was turned into a fund for all of the victims of the attack. A 74-year-old man injured in the shooting died of his injuries on 28 March, bringing the death toll to four.
Suspect
Tanis was arrested after a manhunt on the day of the attack. Tanis grew up in Turkey and came to the Netherlands in 1993 with his parents and two brothers. His parents divorced in 2008 and since then he has lost contact with his father. Until 2017, he lived mainly with his mother. In the Utrecht neighborhood Kanaleneiland Tanis is known for its hair color as 'De Rode Turk' or 'Lokman'. As of 2011, Tanis has been intermittently addicted to hard drugs. According to his family and local residents, he was very aggressive when he used drugs, and, apart from his interactions with other drug users, he was almost always seen alone. In the periods between his addictions he focused more on his Islamic faith. At the time of his arrest, Tanis was about to be evicted from a rent arrears, and he also had outstanding fines. He lived alone at the time, but was engaged and had wedding plans. On 22 March 2019, Tanis confessed to being the sole perpetrator of the shooting. Another suspect was arrested but then released. A letter found in the hijacked car the suspect fled in suggested terrorist motivations; some witnesses claimed they heard the suspect say "Allahu akbar". The public prosecutor charged the suspect with three counts of murder with a terrorist motive. Two weeks before the attack, Tanis was on trial for a sexual offence committed in 2017. On 1 July 2019, the contents of the found letter were made public. The letter read: "I am doing this for my religion. You guys are killing Muslims and want to take my religion away from me. You will not succeed in that. Allah is great." On 20 March 2020, Tanis was sentenced to life in prison.
Aftermath
After the attack, the threat level in the province of Utrecht was unprecedentedly raised to level 5, the highest level. After the suspect was caught, it was reduced to Level 4. Police presence was increased at railway stations, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and at the country's airports. Tram services in the city were cancelled. Elite police forces carrying semi-automatic weapons guarded Jewish community buildings. Mosques in the city were evacuated, and those elsewhere in the country were given increased security, likely due to the recent mosque shootings in New Zealand. The day after the shooting, all national flags on government buildings in the Netherlands and at Dutch diplomatic posts were flown at half-mast on request of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Dutch royal residences flew a black banner, symbolising mourning, alongside the customary royal standard. In addition, election debates and political campaigning for the provincial elections on 20 March 2019 were suspended by all political parties, except for a Forum for Democracy party meeting.
