Ardern promises change
Country holds services as death toll reaches 50
New Zealand’s prime minister reiterated her promise to tighten the country’s gun laws in the wake of terrorist attacks on two mosques that killed 50.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reiterated her promise for changes to the country’s gun laws on Sunday, two days after a gunman killed 50 people in a terrorist attack on two mosques in the city of Christchurch.
Ardern said laws need to change and “they will change.” She said her Cabinet will discuss the policy details Monday.
New Zealand has fewer restrictions on rifles or shotguns than many countries. Handguns are tightly controlled. The death toll in the attack at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques rose to 50 people on Saturday; victims range in age from 2 to over 60, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Services for the victims were held at churches across the country Sunday, and people laid flowers at memorial sites. A group of bikers performed the haka – a traditional ceremonial dance of New Zealand’s Maori people – at the memorial in Christchurch.
Thirty-nine people remain hospitalized, with 11 in critical condition, the Herald said.
Relatives of the dead were waiting Sunday for authorities to release the remains of their loved ones. Islamic law calls for bodies to be buried as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours of death. Many of the victims were immiarrested grants from countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Ardern said a small number of bodies would start being released to families Sunday evening.
National Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police were working with pathologists and coroners to release the bodies as soon as possible.
Police said they released a preliminary list of the victims to families.
A 28-year-old Australian man, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, appeared in court Saturday charged with one count of murder. The judge said “it was reasonable to assume” more such charges would follow. The suspect was ordered to return to court April 5. Two other people, a man and a woman, who were soon after the shootings were not linked to the Tarrant.
The suspect, who described himself as a white supremacist, emailed a copy of a more than 70-page anti-immigrant manifesto to Ardern’s office and more than 60 other recipients shortly before he opened fire, according to media reports.
“I was one of more than 30 recipients of the manifesto that was mailed out nine minutes before the attack took place,” Ardern said Sunday.
“It did not include a location, it did not include specific details,” she said. Ardern said the document was sent to security services within two minutes of receiving it.