Mosque heroes tried to stop attacks
A Christchurch man who tried to stop the gunman who opened fire in a mosque packed with worshippers is being remembered as a hero.
Naeem Rashid, 50, originally from the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, was in the Deans Ave mosque with his 21-year-old son, Talha Naeem, for Friday prayers.
His sister-in-law, Naema Khan, said video of the shooting showed Rashid approach and try to stop the gunman, who indiscriminately opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon.
‘‘When Rashid attacked him, he shot him,’’ Khan said. ‘‘Our imam, I think he saw him, he said his face was towards the sky, and he didn’t know whether he was dead or not.’’
Khan said the family had not had official confirmation Rashid was dead, but they feared the worst. His name was not on the list of injured at Christchurch Hospital, she said. Her nephew was also among the missing.
‘‘We still don’t know anything about my nephew, but they said he was trying to help somebody else to get out from the door and he got shot.’’
Khan said Rashid worked in banking in Pakistan. He moved to New Zealand several years ago and settled in Christchurch, where he worked as a teacher, she said. Rashid recently worked for the Kiwi Institute of Training and Education.
Rashid was shot protecting others, Khan said. Family members had been calling from all over the world to say ‘‘he will be our hero’’.
‘‘My son he texted the video to me and he called my sister and said ... ‘we’ll be remembering our uncle as a hero’.’’
Khan said her brother-in-law was a kind, humble man. ‘‘He was a very nice person . . . he was trying to save people’s lives.’’
The alleged gunman, Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant, appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday on a murder charge.
Khan rejected the attempt to terrorise the Muslim community.
‘‘We say that we always love New Zealand, that it’s a very peaceful country. No wonder people from all over the world are shocked to hear this news.’’
A chef who was caught up in the Linwood Ave mosque attack has described how a heroic fellow worshipper saved people by tackling the gunman.
Khaja Mohiuddin was in the mosque’s main room getting ready for Friday prayers when the terrorist attacker burst in and opened fire.
Mohiuddin managed to escape but said his friend was among the seven people killed.
Two other friends are critically injured, one with a collarbone ‘‘ripped off’’ and the other was shot in the shoulder.
‘‘It was very peaceful [before], because we never had even a cop with a gun. Today it is different.’’
Khaja Mohiuddin
Mohiuddin refused to name the friend who was killed as his death has not been confirmed, but said he usually attended the Masjid al Noor mosque where 41 people were killed.
‘‘We thought we would die, but luckily we escaped. I lost my friend, but they haven’t confirmed it, but I have seen he got shot in his head.’’
Mohiuddin said he had barely slept since the attack.
‘‘I was inside the mosque, we stood for our main prayer and then we heard the gunshots. Everyone was fleeing because someone said ‘get down’, so everyone was trying to hide.’’
Mohiuddin managed to get into a side room, where he hid with 15 or 20 other people as ‘‘many gunshots’’ echoed out.
But as they took cover, one of the worshippers tackled the gunman and stopped him firing.
‘‘The guy was going from us, he was there with us and said ‘we have to do something’’, so he ran and just pulled the gun down,’’ Mohiuddin said.
‘‘We did not seeing anything but heard a sound like something falling down, after that there was no shooting.’’
Mohiuddin said when they finally emerged, he saw blood everywhere, a scene so horrific he tries not to think of it.
Originally from India, the 30-year-old came to New Zealand a decade ago and lives in Edgeware. The events of the past 24 hours have changed his view of the country.
‘‘It was very peaceful [before], because we never had even a cop with a gun. Today it is different.’’
Aucklander Sheik Ashad Ali, 67, was at the Linwood mosque while visiting his son and said he saw the shooter in the doorway.
Ali also said a man in the mosque ran out a back door, around the outside of the building, and tackled the gunman at the front door.