Dozens of people were killed Friday, March 15 when a man opened
fire on religious services at two mosques in Christchurch, with New
Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush saying 49 people are so far
confirmed dead.
In a 9 p.m. press briefing, Bush said one of the people being
treated at the hospital had died, bringing the death toll to
49.
Forty-one people died at the Masjid Al Noor and seven were
killed at the Linwood Islamic Center.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at an earlier press briefing
that three people had died outside the mosque on Linwood
Avenue.
Christchurch Hospital is treating 48 people, including young
children, for gunshot wounds, Canterbury District Health Board
Chief Executive David Meates said in a statement, while other
facilities in the area have treated additional patients.
A man in his late 20s was charged with murder and is set to
appear in court on Saturday morning.
The shooter, a 28-year-old Australian-born citizen, was taken
into custody and has been charged with murder, Bush said. He is set
to appear in court on Saturday morning.
Three other people, including a woman, were arrested shortly
after the attack. Police believe one of them may not be connected
to the incident and the other two are still being investigated,
Bush said. All were armed, he added.
“We have recovered a number of firearms from both of the
scenes,” Bush said.
Police uncovered two improvised explosive devices that were
attached to a vehicle. One was dismantled and police and the
military were working to dismantle the second, Bush said.
New Zealand and Australian agencies had no information about any
of the people in custody, he said.
“While we do not have anything to believe at this stage that
there were any other suspects, we are not assuming that at this
stage,” the prime minister said.
‘White nationalist milieu’
Ardern described the shooting as a terrorist attack and said it was
one of New Zealand’s “darkest days.”
The shooter was able to stream live on social media for nearly
20 minutes during the shooting and had posted a document online
detailing his justifications for the shooting, which he said he had
planned for two years. The document cited immigration of Muslims to
Europe, Australia and New Zealand as the primary reason for the
attack.
He claimed to not be part of any organization but cited white
nationalist figures as inspiration, including Anders Breivik, the
Norwegian far-right terrorist who killed 77 people, including more
than a dozen children, in a 2011 bomb and gun attack in Norway.
“I think his motivations fit squarely in the white nationalist
milieu we have watched rise and solidify for some time. These kinds
of movements – and I use movement on purpose because we need to
stop seeing these guys as isolated individuals – have been growing
quietly on the fringes of cyber space and have now become
emboldened,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, senior research fellow at
the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
“They have heroes like Breivik and Roof, they have cheerleaders
in the halls of power, and are more and more starting to see a
necessity for action. Instead of just talking online. We are going
to see more of this.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.