Local broadcaster RTV Utrecht quoted a witness as saying he had seen a woman lying on the ground amid some kind of confrontation and several men ran away from the scene. A reporter for NOS said a white sheet had been placed over a body near the tram where the shooting had taken place.
NOS quoted Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Netherlands’ counter-terrorism agency, as saying the shooting “appears to be a terrorist attack”, echoing an earlier comment by police.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks, saying he was deeply concerned about the incident, which came three days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Utrecht, the Netherlands’ fourth largest city, is known for its picturesque canals and large student population. Gun killings are rare in Utrecht, as elsewhere in the Netherlands.
Utrecht police said the tram station stop in a square outside the city centre had been cordoned off. Emergency services were at the scene.
- Reuters