Len Peneha, a witness, told Associated Press he saw a man dressed in black go into the mosque and heard dozens of shots, followed by people running away in terror. An estimated 400 people were inside for Friday prayers. The gunman entered Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch and opened fire at 1.40pm local time.
Those who live near the two mosques reported people climbing over fences to escape, and begging for help as the massacre unfolded. Where are we safe now?”Īs shots rang out, police put the city in lockdown and evacuated nearby climate change protests, with children separated from their relatives looked after by council staff until it was safe. They only see religion … They don’t see people any more. “I am new to New Zealand and at the mosque you find your friends and family. Photograph: Marty Melville/AFP/Getty Images The national flag is flown at half-mast on a parliament building in Wellington. He escaped through the back door, but said his son-in-law was shot in the shoulder and his nephew was trapped inside. Mohammed, a Fijian Muslim who also did not wish to give his last name, was in Al Noor mosque when the shooting started. Hassan’s home is within the Al Noor police cordon, and he was unable to return on Friday night. Police told me: ‘I am sorry, this is the first time this has ever happened in this country.’” “I don’t know who of my friends is dead or alive now. “The shooter was screaming a lot and waving the gun in every direction, shooting, shooting, shooting,” he said. He was at the Linwood mosque’s Friday prayer service when the shooting began, and hit the floor as women around him rose up and screamed at the gunmen “Do not come here,” some of them charging towards the gunman. Hassan, 29, a Sri Lankan Muslim who has lived in New Zealand for six months, said he came to the country for its “peace, and because there are no wars”. Linwood mosque attack graphic ‘Where are we safe now?’ None of the suspects were on terrorism watchlists, Ardern said. New Zealand’s threat level has been raised from low to high. Ardern condemned the ideology of the people behind the shootings, saying: “You may have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.”
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, called the massacre a “rightwing extremist attack” and said one suspect was Australian-born, without giving further details. A Christchurch spokesperson told local media police were concerned the suspects had plans to target the victims of the mosque attack as they were transported to hospital.Ī “manifesto” was posted online before the attacks, in which the suspected gunman espoused far-right and anti-immigrant ideology. Hotels in the inner city stationed security guards at their entrances, and armed police protected landmarks of significance, including the courthouse and Christchurch hospital, which is believed to have been a further target. New Zealand’s entire police arsenal and personnel were deployed throughout the country and en masse in Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city, which is known to have an active white-supremacist subculture.
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