UTRECHT, Netherlands: Dutch police on Monday arrested a Turkish-born suspect over a terrorist attack on a tram in the city of Utrecht that left three people dead and five wounded.
Police had earlier launched a huge manhunt for Gokmen Tanis, 37, issuing a picture of him on the tram and warning the public not to approach him.
Heavily armed officers later surrounded a building following the bloodshed in the Netherlands' fourth largest city and his arrest was dramatically announced at the end of a news conference.
Dutch authorities said they were still investigating a likely terrorist motive for the attack but said they "cannot exclude" other motives, including a family argument.
"We have just heard that the suspect we are looking for has been arrested," Utrecht police chief Rob van Bree told a news conference after being handed a piece of paper with news of the arrest.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the theory that it was a terror attack "could not be excluded", vowing that the Netherlands would "never give way to intolerance".
Officials said that they "could not exclude" reports that the gunman had targeted a woman known to him and others who tried to help her.
Suspect Tanis was reportedly in court in a rape case two weeks ago, broadcaster NOS said.
