Attack in Utrecht 2019

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Attack in Utrecht 2019 (Netherlands)
Utrecht
Utrecht
Location of the municipality of Utrecht in the Netherlands
Stop 24 Oktoberplein-Zuid (October 24th Square)
View of the affected multiple unit

In an attack in Utrecht on March 18, 2019, shots were fired at passengers in a multiple unit of the Utrecht Stadtbahn ; four people were killed, six people were injured, two of them seriously. The shooter, Gökmen Tanis, was arrested the same day and sentenced to life in prison on March 20, 2020.

Sequence of events

On the morning of March 18, 2019 at around 10:45 a.m., shots were fired by a man in a vehicle on the express tram near the 24 Oktoberplein-Zuid stop . A woman and two men were killed. Three other people were seriously injured and four slightly injured by gunfire. The perpetrator then fled in a stolen red Renault Clio . The escape vehicle was then found abandoned around 3 kilometers from the crime scene in the Tichelaarslaan in the Ondiep district. A letter was found in the car with the address 'Allah', in which Tanis mentioned his motives:

“I do this for my faith. You kill Muslims and want to take our faith away from us, but that will not work. "

- Gökmen Tanis : letter found in the getaway car.

Immediately after the crime, a Dutch anti-terrorist unit was activated and the highest terror warning level was declared for the province of Utrecht - for the first time ever in the Netherlands. The shooter was arrested the same day.

Victim

Initially, three people were killed: two men from Utrecht aged 49 and 28 and a 19-year-old woman from the nearby town of Vianen . Seven other people were injured, three seriously. The injured were taken to the Utrecht University Hospital. Ten days after the attack, a 74-year-old man from De Meern died as the fourth victim of his injuries.

A neighbor of the murdered 19-year-old started a mass funding campaign to cover the costs of the funeral. She received so many donations after a few hours that she changed the donation income to a fund for all victims of the attack.

Perpetrator

The then 37-year-old Gökmen Tanis (born July 2, 1981 in Yozgat , Turkey ) confessed to the attack and murder of several people on Friday, March 22, 2019 and claimed to have acted alone. According to media reports, Tanis has been tried several times in the Netherlands in recent years, including charges of rape , insult and theft . He first appeared to the police in 2012 when he stole a truck. He is also said to have shot a gun in a residential building in 2013, which at the time was rated as attempted manslaughter by the public prosecutor's office.

The investigators assume a terrorist motive. The perpetrator is accused of "multiple murder with terrorist intent", "attempted murder" and "terrorist threat". So far, the perpetrator has not commented on the motive for the crime, but a letter found in the getaway car suggests that it is terrorism, even if other possible motives for the crime are not excluded. According to the news portal Ahval, a Turkish businessman told BBC Turkey that Tanis had already been arrested for alleged membership of the Islamic State, but was later released. He is said to be a loner who allegedly also fought in the Chechen Republic. Gökmen Tanis' brother, Bilal T., is a supporter of the Kaplancılar , a radical Islamic splinter group in Turkey that rejects the secular state and wants to convert Turkey into a caliphate. Bilal sees Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a traitor to the people because he turned Turkey into a secular state. He describes Ataturk as an "unbelieving dog" on Facebook and wrote under a manipulated video in which Ataturk is being shot at with rockets that he wants to see democracy and all other systems destroyed that are against Allah's system. He sees Ataturk as a "degenerate" one and wishes that the black flag of jihad would fly all over the world - the black flag is mainly used by the IS . Mehmet Tanis, the suspect's father, who lives in the Turkish province of Kayseri in central Turkey, told the private news agency Demiroren that he had not spoken to his son for 11 years. "If he did, he should pay the fine," the father told the journalists.

process

On March 3, 2020, Gökmen Tanis was charged with quadruple murder and multiple attempted murder with a terrorist motive. The defendant laughed several times while reading the testimony. On March 20, Tanis was sentenced to life in prison. The Netherlands does not have any legally regulated limits on life imprisonment; Tanis could only be released from prison by pardoning the Dutch king .

Investigations

A photo from the surveillance camera installed in the multiple unit was used to find the main suspect Tanis, who confessed to the crime a few days later, a 37-year-old man who was born in Turkey . He was arrested on the evening of the same day. One day after the crime, a 40-year-old man from Utrecht was arrested, who was also considered a possible suspect because Gökmen Tanis was arrested at his home. However, investigators found no evidence of involvement and the 40-year-old man was released from custody shortly afterwards. Two other people were arrested beforehand but were quickly released.

Reactions

Turkey

The Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed its shock: “In view of this attack, we stand in full solidarity with the Dutch people and the government.” In addition, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised in a TV interview that the Turkish secret service Millî İstihbarat Teşkilâtı (MIT) would investigate : “Ours Secret services are investigating all of this, our head of the secret service told me that all the details are being collected. "

See also

swell

  1. ↑ Utrecht - Shots in the tram: Three dead in the attack , zdf.de, March 18, 2019
  2. ^ Letter in the escape car supports the terrorist motive , FAZ, March 19, 2019
  3. ^ Jon Henley European affairs correspondent: Utrecht tram shooting: three dead as police hunt gunman . In: The Guardian . March 18, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 18, 2019]).
  4. ↑ a b Hoofdverdachte (37) van schietpartij in Utrecht opgepakt, motief is nog niet duidelijk , hln.be, March 18, 2018
  5. ↑ The perpetrators from Utrecht are said to have targeted tram passengers, Der Spiegel 02.03.2020. (accessed on March 4, 2020).
  6. ↑ Utrecht: Fourth victim of the attack dies in hospital. March 28, 2019, accessed April 1, 2019 (German).
  7. ↑ The suspect - a serious criminal , on spiegel.de
  8. ↑ Shots in Utrecht: Letter in the getaway car supports terrorist motive . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed April 1, 2019]).
  9. ↑ Milan Schreuer, Richard Pérez-Peña: Brazen Shooting Traumatizes Dutch City, Three Days After Christchurch Killings . In: The New York Times . March 18, 2019, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed March 23, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Tram attack: Fourth fatality after shots in Utrecht , Berliner Zeitung of March 28, 2019
  11. ↑ Small bijdrage in cost afscheid lieve Roos. Retrieved March 23, 2019 (Dutch).
  12. ↑ Inzamelingsactie Roos (19) Groot succes, nu voor all slachtoffers aanslag. Retrieved March 23, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Hollanda'da silahlı saldırı: 3 Ölü. Retrieved March 22, 2019 (tr-TR).
  14. ↑ a b WORLD: Shots in the tram: suspect from Utrecht confesses a bloody act . March 22, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed March 22, 2019]).
  15. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE: Suspicion of terrorism: perpetrators from Utrecht admits attack . In: The time . March 22, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed on March 22, 2019]).
  16. ↑ a b Three dead in the tram: Police: suspect from Utrecht has been arrested , Zeit Online , March 18, 2019
  17. ↑ Three people shot perpetrators from Utrecht acted with a terrorist motive , n-tv.de, March 21, 2019
  18. ↑ FOCUS Online: Letter found in escape vehicle: Police in Utrecht have evidence of a terrorist motive. Retrieved March 22, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Dutch police hunt for Turkish man following tram shooting that killed 3. Retrieved on March 23, 2019 (English).
  20. ↑ Hassan Bahara: Oudere broer Gökmen T. sympathiseert met Radicaal Islamist group of stands. March 19, 2019, accessed on March 23, 2019 (nl-NL).
  21. ↑ AP: Suspected gunman in deadly Dutch tram shooting is arrested. Retrieved March 23, 2019 (American English).
  22. ↑ mes / dpa: perpetrators from Utrecht are said to have targeted tram passengers. February 3, 2020, accessed on April 3, 2020 (German).
  23. ↑ De Volkskrant: Tramschutter Gökmen T. veroordeeld tot levenslange celstraf. March 20, 2020, accessed March 20, 2020 (Dutch).
  24. ^ WORLD: Dead in Utrecht: Police are looking for 37-year-olds, Rutte speaks of an attack . March 18, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed March 18, 2019]).
  25. ↑ Police arrest other suspects , on faz.net , March 19, 2019
  26. ↑ Alleged perpetrator from Utrecht admits attack. Retrieved March 23, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Three dead in Utrecht: The suspect - a serious criminal , spiegel.de, March 18, 2019
  28. ↑ Police in Utrecht have reports of terrorism , Volksstimme, March 19, 2019
  29. ^ WORLD: Police in Utrecht see the letter as an indication of a terrorist motive . March 19, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed March 22, 2019]).

Coordinates: 52 ° 4  '51.2 " N , 5 ° 5' 26.2"  E