Six shoppers stabbed in New Zealand
Police shoot, kill Sri Lankan man who was under surveillance at time of attack
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand authorities were so worried about an extremist inspired by the Islamic State group that they were following him around-the-clock and were able to shoot and kill him within 60 seconds of him unleashing a frenzied knife attack that wounded six people at an Auckland supermarket Friday.
Three of the shoppers were taken to hospitals in critical condition, police said. Another was in serious condition, while two more were in moderate condition.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the incident was a terror attack. She said the man was a Sri Lankan national who was inspired by the Islamic State group and was well-known to the nation’s security agencies.
Sri Lanka’s government expressed shock and sadness.
Ardern said she had been personally briefed on the man in the past but there had been no legal basis to detain him.
“Had he done something that would have allowed us to put him into prison, he would have been in prison,” Ardern said.
The attack unfolded about 2:40 p.m. at a Countdown supermarket in New Zealand’s largest city.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said a police surveillance
team and a specialist tactics group had followed the man from his home in the suburb of Glen Eden to the supermarket in New Lynn.
But while they had grave concerns about the man, they had no particular reason to think he was planning an attack Friday, Coster said. The man appeared to be going to the store to do his grocery shopping.
“He entered the store, as he had done before. He obtained a knife from within the store,” Coster said. “Surveillance teams were as close as they possibly could be to monitor his activity.”
Witnesses said the man shouted “Allahu akbar!” — meaning God is great — and started stabbing random shoppers,
sending people running and screaming.
Coster said that when the commotion started, two police from the special tactics group rushed over. He said the man charged at the officers with the knife and they shot and killed him.
A bystander video records the sound of 10 shots being fired in rapid succession.
Coster said there would be questions about whether police could have reacted even quicker. He said the man was aware of the constant surveillance and they needed to be some distance from him for it to be effective.
Ardern said the attack was violent and senseless, and she was sorry it had happened.
“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful. It was wrong,” Ardern said. “It was carried out by an individual. Not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity. But an individual person who is gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community.”
Ardern said the man had first moved to New Zealand in 2011 and had been monitored by security agencies since 2016. She said authorities are confident he acted alone.
Ardern said legal constraints imposed by New Zealand courts prevented her from discussing everything she wanted to about the case, but she was hoping to have those constraints lifted soon.
Some shoppers tried to help those who had been wounded by grabbing towels and diapers and whatever else they could find from the shelves.
“To everyone who was there and who witnessed such a horrific event, I can’t imagine how they will be feeling in the aftermath,” Ardern said. “But thank you for coming to the aid of those who needed you when they needed you.”