Confronting gunman, hero stood up

New Zealanders flocked to pay tribute on Sunday to the 50 worshippers slain in a twin mosque attack, as families clamored for the return of their dead.

Coroners said they hoped to let grieving relatives fulfill Islamic burial customs soon, but insisted they had to move carefully through their investigation into the horrific multiple murder, Agence France-Presse reported.

Suspected white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with one count of murder in the slayings and a judge said on Saturday that it was reasonable to assume more charges would follow.

As New Zealand grappled to come to terms with the slaughter — the worst attack on Muslims in a Western country — tales of heroism, suffering and incredible grace began to emerge.

When the gunman advanced toward the Linwood mosque in Christchurch, killing those in his path, Abdul Aziz didn’t hide. Instead, he picked up the first thing he could find, a credit card machine, and ran outside screaming “Come here!”

Aziz, 48, is being hailed as a hero for preventing more deaths during Friday prayers at the Linwood mosque after he led the gunman in a cat-and-mouse chase before scaring him into speeding away in his car.

But Aziz, whose four sons and dozens of others remained in the mosque while he faced off with the gunman, said he thinks it’s what anyone would have done.

The gunman killed 50 people after attacking two mosques in the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand’s modern history.

The gunman is believed to have killed at least 41 people at the Al Noor mosque before driving about 5 kilometers across town and attacking the Linwood mosque, where he killed seven more people.

Latef Alabi, the Linwood mosque’s acting imam, said the death toll would have been far higher at the Linwood mosque if it wasn’t for Aziz.

“Then this brother came over. He went after him, and he managed to overpower him, and that’s how we were saved,” Alabi said, referring to Aziz.

Aziz said as he ran outside screaming, he was hoping to distract the attacker. He said the gunman ran back to his car to get another gun, and Aziz hurled the credit card machine at him.

The gunman returned, firing. Aziz said he ran, weaving through cars parked in the driveway, which prevented the gunman from getting a clean shot.

He said the gunman was cursing at him, yelling that he was going to kill them all. But the man drove away and Aziz said he chased the car down the street to a red light, before the car made a U-turn and sped away. Online videos indicate police officers managed to force the car from the road and drag out the suspect soon after.

Originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, Aziz said he left as a refugee when he was a boy and lived for more than 25 years in Australia before moving to New Zealand a couple of years ago.

Aziz said he didn’t feel fear or much of anything when facing the gunman. He felt as if he was on autopilot. He believes that God, that Allah, didn’t think it was his time to die.

The dead from Friday’s attack span generations. They are aged between three and 77, according to a somber list circulated among relatives.

The youngest known victim of the mass shooting is 3-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim.

On Friday, when the gunman stormed into the Al Noor mosque where Mucaad was sitting with his older brother and father, it was Mucaad’s youth that left him so vulnerable. In the chaos that ensued as people fled from the bullets, the tiny boy became separated from his family, according to The Associated Press.

On Sunday, Mucaad’s brother Abdi Ibrahim said that police had confirmed the worst: their beloved little boy was dead.

Each of the 50 lives lost in Friday’s senseless barrage of violence at the hands of a white supremacist has left an aching wound across this close-knit city. But the death of Mucaad, with his big brown eyes and sweet smile, has pierced with particular ferocity.

“My mum, she’s been struggling,” Abdi said. “Every time she sees other people crying, emotional, she just collapses.”