Human stories behind deaths
The 50 dead from Friday’s callous shootings are each individually tragic stories.
Children left without parents, grandparents and bread winners. Parents mourning children. Families permanently shattered and scarred. Workplaces bereft and handicapped.
The 50 fatalities also show the themes and patterns that emerge from any mass killing and somehow makes the loss deeper and more human.
Many of the dead had young children and babies, some had barely got settled in Christchurch and others were visiting family who recently immigrated here.
But first the heroics.
Haji Daoud Nabi died after he hurled his 71-year-old body on another person as the shooter fired into the Masjid Al Noor in Deans Ave. Pakistani Naeem Rashid, in his 40s, was seen trying to wrest a firearm from the shooter’s hands before he died.
In the carnage, several fathers and sons, preparing to pray in each other’s company, died together.
Rashid was shot near his fatally wounded son Talha Naeem, 21, and Ghulaim Hussain, in his 60s from Karachi, was killed with his son Zeeshan Raza, 38. Maheboob Khokhar’s life ended at the same time as his son Imran perished in the hail of bullets.
Indian Arifbhai Vora, 58, was killed alongside his 28-year-old son Ramiz Vora, and Khalid Mustafa, from Syria, died at the Masjid Al Noor near his son Hamza, 16.
Many of the dead had young children, the youngest of whom was Ramiz Vora’s daughter, born a week before the shooting. Atta Elayyan, 33, from Kuwait had recently become a father and Abdelfattah Qasem, 60, from Palestine, who was killed at the Masjid Al Noor, was going to be a grandfather for the first time next month. Farhaj Ahsan, 30, from India, was the father of a baby aged 7 months and a 2-year-old.
Mohammed Omar Faruk, 36, from Bangladesh, leaves behind a wife, who is four months’ pregnant in Bangladesh.
Junaid Ismail, Christchurch born and raised, 36, leaves his wife, three young children and a mother who relied on him for support.
Having a holiday and visiting missed family was the only reason some of those who died were in Christchurch. Arifbhai Vora was visiting his son Ramiz and Maheboob Khokhar was staying with his son Imran.
Ghulaim Hussain and his wife Karam Bibi were having a holiday in Christchurch after travelling from Pakistan to visit son Zeeshan, who came to New Zealand last year.
The Mustafas arrived from Syria a few months ago and Karmel Darwish had barely chalked up six months here.
Those who died were making valuable contributions to the city’s economy. Elayyan was a key player in the Christchurch tech industry and Syed Jahandaed Ali was working as a senior dynamics developer.
At Scotts Engineering, a company making high-pressure vessels, staff were wondering how they would cope without Mounir Soliman, their design engineer and quality manager.
Syed Areeb Ahmed was an accountant and Mohammeed Imran Khan owned the Indian Grill restaurant. Amjad Hamid was a senior medical officer at Hawera Hospital.