Refugee who scared off killer is hailed as a hero

A FURNITURE shop owner in New Zealand has been hailed as a hero after scaring off the far-right terrorist who gunned down 50 people in Christchurch.

Abdul Aziz, an Afghan refugee, was at Linwood mosque when Brenton Tarrant began shooting bystanders, having already carried out a massacre at the Al Noor mosque.

Mr Aziz told local media that he thought the gunshots were fireworks, but then saw his “brothers and sisters” being shot. He grabbed the first thing to hand, an EFTPOS debit card machine, and rushed towards the attacker.

“I saw a man with an army uniform and I said: ‘Who the hell are you?’ And he started swearing at me. I just threw the EFTPOS machine [at him] but his car door was open and he managed to get another gun and started shooting at me.

“When I went to the side of the mosque I saw there was a dead body with a shotgun there. I just grabbed that shotgun [but] when I pulled the trigger there was no bullet in it.”

Mr Aziz then hurled the shotgun at the attacker’s car, breaking the window and apparently scaring off the assailant, who then fled the scene.

“The gun I had in my hand, the shotgun, I just threw it at him like a spear at

‘When I close my eyes, I still see bodies everywhere … but what can you do? You cannot bring them back’

his window. His window blasted and he got really shocked – he thought I had shot at him or something.”

“And then he just swore at me and drove off [while I was] still chasing with the gun.”

Mr Aziz returned to the mosque where he was met by scenes of carnage. Dead bodies were strewn around the mosque, among them his close friends. “When I close my eyes, I still see bodies everywhere,” he said. “We are all still in shock, but what can you do? You cannot bring them back.”

The businessman has been declared a hero, but says people should “thank Allah” for preventing an even heavier loss of life, not him.

Asked for this thoughts on the gunman, he added: “He’s a coward. He thinks that he doesn’t have fear but he does have fear. I could see the fear in his eyes when he was running to his car.

“To come with a gun and start shooting people and killing people and thinking you’re a hero. No. You’ll never be a hero by killing people, you can be a hero by saving lives.”

Meanwhile, Naeem Rashid, a Pakistani victim of the massacre who apparently tried to tackle the gunman before being shot dead, will be receive a posthumous award in his home country for his courage, Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, announced yesterday.