Dutch prosecutors consider terror motive in tram shooting

UTRECHT, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors said Tuesday they are taking very seriously the possibility that the deadly shooting on a tram in the central city of Utrecht was an act of terror.

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

They did not elaborate on what was written in the note found in the car.

The statement also said that investigations so far have not established any relationship at all between the main suspect, Gokmen Tanis, and the shooting victims.

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

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

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

He was arrested Monday evening after an hours-long manhunt that nearly paralyzed the Netherlands’ fourth-largest city and sent shockwaves through this nation.

Officials said Tanis has had a long criminal record in the Netherlands involving a variety of offenses — none terror-related — but gave no details.