Utrecht Shooting Updates: Gunman Kills 3 on Tram – The New York Times

“We think there is just one perpetrator, but we cannot exclude the possibility of there being several perpetrators,” Mr. van Zanen said.

A gunman reportedly fled the scene after the attack, and might have escaped in a car. Heavily armed police had assembled outside a building near the site of the attack.

The police were looking into the carjacking of a red Renault, which was stolen before the attack and then abandoned near the shooting scene. They did not say what connection it might have to the killings.

The Utrecht Police advised people to stay indoors, although that warning was later lifted, and the city’s tram network was shut down in response to the shooting.

The Netherlands has one of the lowest rates of private firearms ownership in Europe, according to international studies, about 2.6 per 100 people, compared to more than one per person in the United States. Its rate of gun homicide, about 0.2 to 0.3 per 100,000 people each year, is fairly typical for Europe, and far below the United States rate of about 4 per 100,000 people.