Suspect arrested as three die and five are injured in Utrecht shooting

Authorities initially said it could have been a terror attack, but later it a police spokesman said it might have been a domestic dispute as confusion over motives reigned.

Meanwhile three of the wounded were said to be "fighting for their lives" in hospital.

The man was detained on a street in the north of the city several hours after the shooting, which happened at 10.45am local time on the central 24 Oktoberplein junction.

"We have just been informed that the suspect has been arrested," police chief Rob van Bree said.

Utrecht spent much of the day in lockdown after the incident, with authorities asking residents to stay at home.

Schools were closed and security was increased while counter-terrorism police worked to locate the suspect earlier on Monday.

A few hours after the shooting, Utrecht police released a photo of Tanis said he was "associated with the incident and warned people against approaching him.

Utrecht Mayor Jan van Zanen said: "We cannot exclude, even stronger, we assume a terror motive. [It is] likely there is one attacker, but there could be more."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that "a terror motive is not excluded" and that the attack was met throughout the country with "a mix of disbelief and disgust".

He said the nation had been "jolted by an attack", which he described as "deeply disturbing".

"If it is a terror attack, then we have only one answer: Our nation, democracy, must be stronger that fanaticism and violence," he added.

But a police spokesman, Bernhard Jens, said the attack could be a family dispute and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, citing relatives of the Turkish-born suspect’s family, said Tanis had fired at a woman for “family reasons” then shot at others who tried to help her.

One witness told local media that "a man started shooting wildly".

Another witness told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that he had helped an injured woman after the tram came to a stop.

"I looked behind me and saw someone lying there behind the tram," he said. "People got out of their cars... and they started to lift her up.

"I helped to pull her out and then I saw a gunman run towards us, with his gun raised," he said.

Another witness Daan Molenaar said he did not believe it was a terrorist attack: “The first thing I thought was, this is some kind of revenge or something, or somebody who’s really mad and grabbed a pistol.”

The national terrorism coordinator, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, raised the alert level in the province to its maximum. Security was also increased in the nearby cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague as well as at Schiphol airport.

READ MORE: Utrecht shooting: Multiple injuries after 'shots fired on tram'

A number of raids were reportedly carried out and counter-terrorism officers were pictured surrounding a building near the 24 Oktoberplein junction, where the tram attack took place.

The shooting took place at a busy junction in a residential area. Police erected a white tent over an area where a body appeared to be lying next to the tram.

Anti-terror officers gathered in front of a block of flats close to the scene. A dog wearing a vest with a camera mounted on it was also seen outside the building.

A police spokesman said one person might have fled by car and he did not rule out the possibility that more than one assailant was involved.

Authorities later reduced the threat level in Utrecht back to four out of five following the arrest, back in line with the rest of the Netherlands.

Political parties halted campaigning ahead of provincial elections scheduled for Wednesday that will also determine the make-up of Parliament's upper house.