Targeted mosque in shock

A rural Canterbury mosque believed to be the alleged Christchurch shooter’s third terror target had a lucky escape, its leader says.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush told media on Wednesday officers had identified where the gunman was headed after attacking the Deans Ave and Linwood mosques, but would not reveal the location.

The man was arrested 21 minutes after police received the first 111 call, while driving on Brougham St in Christchurch.

In a manifesto published before the attack, the alleged gunman said his plans changed after visiting the mosques in Christchurch and Linwood and seeing the Ashburton mosque in Mid Canterbury had been converted from a church.

He said he was unsure if he would reach Ashburton.

Ashburton Muslim Community president Mohamed Diab told Stuff yesterday he was notified Ashburton was a target about 2.30pm on Friday when about 20 people were inside the mosque.

He immediately called the police who were already outside the mosque.

‘‘We couldn’t believe it, even when we heard about it, we couldn’t believe this happened. ‘‘It was just shock.’’ Shortly after Diab received the news, the alleged gunman was caught. The Muslim community in Ashburton felt ‘‘very lucky’’ police arrested the suspect before he got to Ashburton, Diab said.

However, many of the members were ‘‘still worried’’.

‘‘I have some friends that even though he’s been arrested, they think he will come again; they’re worried he still has some other people with him.’’

Police say the alleged gunman committed the shootings at both attacks and he alone has been charged with murder.

Diab said he knew about 30 of the people killed in the attack, including Mohammed Imran Khan, who spent some time in Ashburton.

The mosque was closed until Monday, he said.

Bush refused to say on Wednesday whether the gunman had travelled to Christchurch previously, or whether he had scoped out the mosques before attacking them.

‘‘Within 10 minutes, the armed offenders squad were on the scene ready to respond,’’ Bush said.

‘‘Within 21 minutes, the person who is now in custody was arrested.’’

The total timeline of events last Friday, including the attacks that killed 50 people and wounded another 50, is believed to be about 40 minutes.