Fear Grips Holland After Terrorist Attack By Turkish National In Utrecht, Shooter Apprehended, Police Suggest It May Be Related To the New Zealand Shooting

Just days after the shooting in New Zealand, another mass shooting took place in Holland. The shooter, Gökman Tanis, who reports are saying shouted “Allahu Akbar,” was arrested and police are suggesting he did this in relation to the shooting in New Zealand according to a report:

Police in the central Dutch city of Utrecht were hunting for a gunman on Monday after a shooting on a tram that left at least three people dead. Officials said it was possible the attack had a “terrorist motive.”

Police, including heavily armed officers, flooded the area after gunfire erupted on the tram at a busy intersection at the October 21st Square station. Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said three people were killed and at least nine others injured in the attack.

The shooter remained at large, prompting the Dutch government to put the country’s military police on “extra alert” at airports and “vital buildings” amid a manhunt.

In a tweet, Utrecht Police said they were looking for 37-year-old Turkish national Gökmen Tanis in connection with the shooting, but they did not explicitly identify him as a suspect. The tweet showed a photo of the man, which appeared to come from a security camera on a tram or bus.

The tweet warned residents not to “approach him yourself,” but to immediately call the police if he was spotted.

Heavily armed anti-terror officers gathered in front of an apartment building just 200 yards from the scene of the deadly attack not long after the shooting. It was unclear whether the police believed the shooter could be holed up in the building. They were apparently holding their positions and awaiting further orders.

“In Utrecht there was a shooting at several locations,” Netherlands Counter-Terrorism Agency head Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg told a news conference. “A lot is still unclear at this point and local authorities are working hard to establish all the facts. What we already know is that a culprit is at large.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the situation “very worrying” and the country’s counterterror coordinator said in a tweet that a crisis team was meeting to discuss the incident.

Dutch police urged schools to keep their doors shut and locked, and the terror alert level in the Utrecht region was elevated to five, the highest possible. (source, source)

We will be providing more details on the matter as they emerge.