Police are hunting for suspect who shot and killed at least 3 people in the Netherlands

Netherlands police at the shooting scene.

(Image credit: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen / Getty Images)

published 18 March 2019

A gunman who reportedly killed at least three people and injured several more on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday is still at large. The city's mayor confirmed the three fatalities. Utrecht police are still currently hunting for a 37-year-old, Turkey-born man named Gokman Tanis, whom they have identified as the suspect in the shooting.

Counter-terror police have said that the shooting "appears to be a terrorist attack" and the security threat level has been temporarily raised to its highest point in the province of Utrecht, BBC reports.

Several places, including Utrecht University, the Utrecht Central station, and mosques throughout the city have taken precautionary measures and shuttered their doors. No trains are allowed to enter the city and local trams have stopped running. Police have also increased security at airports throughout the Netherlands, though the Dutch counter-terrorism agency has not raised the threat level elsewhere in the country. German police said they are surveilling the Netherlands-Germany border and are on the lookout for the suspected shooter.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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