Many killed in New Zealand mosque shootings
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A gunman opened fire on two mosques in central Christchurch on Friday, killing multiple people in what the country’s prime minister called “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”
The police said one person was in custody, but they were unsure if there were other people involved. The country’s police commissioner, Mike Bush, warned residents of central Christchurch to stay indoors and police asked mosques to close.
“This is and will be one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said at a news conference.
Bush said a mosque near Hagley Park and a mosque on Linwood Avenue, also in Christchurch, were attacked.
Shortly before the shooting, someone appearing to be the gunman publicly posted links to a manifesto on Twitter and 8chan, an online forum. The 8chan post included a link to what appeared to be the gunman’s Facebook page, where he said he would soon broadcast live video of the attack.
The 17-minute video, which appeared to be recorded on a helmet camera, shows his drive to the mosque, followed by a harrowing nearly two minutes of his firing on the worshippers in the mosque before fleeing the building and running back to his car and swapping weapons.
He then re-enters the mosque and again begins shooting, continuing to methodically move through the mosque. Several victims can be seen in the footage, many lying on top of one another motionless in a corner of the room.
After another few minutes, he leaves again, gets in his vehicle and drives away, talking to himself throughout.
“There wasn’t even time to aim, there was so many targets,” he says at one point.
The video and Twitter posts showed weapons covered in the names of past military generals and men who have recently carried out mass shootings.
In his manifesto, he identified himself as a 28-year-old man born in Australia. He listed his white nationalist heroes, described what he said motivated him to attack, and said he purposely used guns to stir discord in the United States around the Second Amendment.
Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the Masjid Al Noor mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running in terror. He says he also saw the gunman flee before emergency services arrived
“I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque,” he said. “It’s unbelievable nutty. I don’t understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It’s ridiculous.”
Witness Ahmad Al-Mahmoud told Stuff the shooter was whiteskinned, blond, short and wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest.
He reportedly had an automatic gun and emptied two magazines.
Murders are rare in New Zealand, and gun deaths even rarer. There were 35 murders countrywide in 2017. Since 2007, gun homicides have been in the single digits each year except 2009, when there were 11.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.