Forty-nine people were killed in shootings at two mosques in central Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, in a terrorist attack that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”
• Officials said that one man in his late 20s had been charged with murder, and that two explosive devices were found attached to a vehicle that they had stopped.
• A Muslim leader in New Zealand said the attack was especially shocking as it took place around Friday Prayer. The police urged people to stay away from the mosques until further notice.
• A gunman streamed a live video of the attack on Facebook, and he appeared to have posted a manifesto online.
Two mosques are attacked
Shots were fired at Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue in the center of the city and at Linwood Mosque, about three miles away, the police said.
The country’s police commissioner, Mike Bush, said in an evening news conference that 41 people had been killed at Al Noor Mosque and seven at Linwood Mosque, and that another victim had died at Christchurch Hospital.
David Meates, the chief executive of the Canterbury District Health Board, said that 48 people, including young children, were being treated for injuries at the hospital. He said the injuries included gunshot wounds and ranged from critical to minor.
The police said that four people, including three men and one woman, had been taken into custody. Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said that one of them was Australian.
Mr. Bush said that a man in his late 20s had been charged with murder and would appear in Christchurch court on Saturday morning. A number of firearms were recovered from the scenes of the shootings, he said.
Of the three others who were detained, the police commissioner said that one might have had nothing to do with the attack and that the police were working to determine how the other two might have been involved.
Ms. Ardern said earlier that none of those detained were on security watch lists.
Two explosive devices were found on one vehicle, Mr. Bush said, adding that the police had defused one and were in the process of defusing the other.
Mr. Bush had earlier urged people not to go to mosques anywhere in New Zealand on Friday. He also urged mosques nationally to “close your doors until you hear from us again.”
Emergency workers tending to an injured man outside one of the mosques that was attacked in central Christchurch.CreditMark Baker/Associated Press
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Emergency workers tending to an injured man outside one of the mosques that was attacked in central Christchurch.CreditMark Baker/Associated Press
Video shows part of the shooting
A 17-minute video posted to Facebook shows part of the attack.
The clip, which may have been taken from a helmet camera worn by a gunman, begins behind the wheel of a car. A man, whose face can occasionally be seen in the rearview mirror, drives through the streets of Christchurch before pulling up in front of Al Noor Mosque, beside the sprawling Hagley Park.
[Read more here about the video, manifesto and social media posts.]
Shooting at Al Noor Mosque
A live video posted to social media appeared to show the attack at Al Noor Mosque, one of two mosques that were targeted on Friday. The clip appeared to have been taken from a camera worn by a gunman.
3 The gunman’s video shows
him driving away six minutes
after the first shot.
1 The gunman parked in
the alley next to the mosque,
according to the live video.
Al Noor
Mosque
DEANS AVE.
2 He opened
fire at around
1:40 p.m.
Re-entered mosque
and began firing
Resumed firing
outside the mosque
Shot a
bystander
First shot fired
Parked
Exited mosque
Exited
mosque
Drove
away
Got new
gun from
parked car
1 min.
later
2
3
4
5
6
By The New York Times | Note: Times are local time.
He approaches the mosque on foot, his weapon visible, and begins shooting at people at the entrance. What follows is a harrowing nearly two minutes of his firing on worshipers.
At one point the gunman exits the mosque and fires in both directions down the sidewalk before returning to his car for another gun — which, like the others, was inscribed with numbers, symbols or messages. When he re-enters the mosque, he shoots several bodies at close range.
After another few minutes, he returns to his vehicle and drives away.
“There wasn’t even time to aim, there was so many targets,” he says at one point, as the sirens of an emergency response vehicle blare in the background.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/asia/new-zealand-shooting.html
