At least 49 people were shot to death at two mosques during midday prayers Friday — most if not all of them gunned down by an immigrant-hating white supremacist who apparently used a helmet-mounted camera to broadcast live video of the slaughter on Facebook.
One man was arrested and charged with murder, and two other armed suspects were taken into custody while police tried to determine what role, if any, they played in the cold-blooded attack that stunned New Zealand, a country so peaceful that police officers rarely carry guns.
It was by far the deadliest shooting in modern New Zealand history.
“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, noting that many of the victims could be migrants or refugees.
She pronounced it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”
Man who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant, 28, of Australia filmed self just before live streaming mass shooting at mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand pic.twitter.com/UowqUymsD2
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) March 15, 2019
The gunman who carried out at least one of the mosque attacks posted a jumbled, 74-page manifesto on social media under the name Brenton Tarrant, identifying himself as a 28-year-old Australian and white supremacist who was out to avenge attacks in Europe perpetrated by Muslims.
He also livestreamed in graphic detail 17 minutes of his rampage at Al Noor Mosque, where, armed with at least two assault rifles and a shotgun, he sprayed worshippers with bullets over and over, killing at least 41 people. Several more people were killed in an attack on a second mosque in the city a short time later.
At least 48 people were wounded, some critically.
Police did not say whether the same person was responsible for both shootings. They gave no details about those taken into custody except to say that none had been on any watch list.
My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2019
In the aftermath, the country’s threat level was raised from low to high, police warned Muslims against going to a mosque anywhere in New Zealand, and the national airline canceled several flights in and out of Christchurch, a city of nearly 400,000 people.
World leaders condemned the violence and offered condolences, with President Donald Trump tweeting, “We stand in solidarity with New Zealand.” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and other Islamic leaders pointed to the bloodbath and other such attacks as evidence of rising hostility toward Muslims.
“I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11 where Islam & 1.3 bn Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror by a Muslim,” Khan tweeted.
New Zealand, with 5 million people, has relatively loose gun laws but few gun homicides. It is also generally considered to be welcoming to migrants and refugees.
The prime minister said the attack reflected “extremist views that have absolutely no place in New Zealand.”
Immigrants “have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home,” she said. “They are us.”
https://twitter.com/MatthewKeysLive/status/1106386210358878208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1106386210358878208&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theyeshivaworld.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1696433%26action%3Dedit
At the Al Noor mosque, witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black and wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top enter the house of worship and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running out in terror.
Peneha, who lives next door, said the gunman ran out of the mosque, dropped what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon in his driveway and fled. Peneha then went into the mosque to help the victims.
“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. “I don’t understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It’s ridiculous.”
Facebook, Twitter and Google companies scrambled to take down the gunman’s video, which was widely available on social media for hours after the horrific attack.
In the video, the killer spends more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying terrified worshippers with gunfire. He then walks outside, where he shoots at people on the sidewalk. Children’s screams can be heard in the distance as he returns to his car to get another rifle. He walks back into the mosque, where there are at least two dozen people lying on the ground.
After going back outside and shooting a woman there, he gets back in his car, where the song “Fire” by the English rock band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown can be heard blasting. The singer bellows, “I am the god of hellfire!” and the gunman drives off before police even arrive.
The second attack took place at the Linwood mosque about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away. Mark Nichols told the New Zealand Herald that he heard about five gunshots and that a worshipper returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.
The gunman references support for US President Donald Trump:
#BREAKING: In manifesto, Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shooting suspect said he supported U.S. President Donald Trump “as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” but not as a policymaker. pic.twitter.com/RHW2SwzjXs
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) March 15, 2019
The footage showed the killer was carrying a shotgun and two fully automatic military assault rifles, with an extra magazine taped to one of the weapons so that he could reload quickly. He also had more assault weapons in the trunk of his car, along with what appeared to be explosives.
The gunman’s manifesto was a welter of often politically contradictory views, touching on many of the most combustible issues of the day, among them the Second Amendment right to own guns, Muslim immigration, terrorist attacks and the wealthiest 1 percent.
He portrayed himself as a racist and a fascist and raged against non-Westerners, but said China is the nation that most aligns with his political and social values.
The gunman said he was not a member of any organization, acted alone and chose New Zealand to show that even the most remote parts of the world are not free of “mass immigration.”
For the first time in history synagogues in NZ are closed on Shabbat following the shocking massacre of Muslims in Christchurch. The Jewish Agency and the NZ Jewish Council stand in solidarity with the bereaved families. We are united in fighting violent hatred and racism.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) March 15, 2019
Last year, New Zealand’s prime minister announced that the country would boost its annual refugee quota from 1,000 to 1,500 in 2020. Ardern, whose party campaigned on a promise to take in more refugees, called it “the right thing to do.”
Before Friday’s attack, New Zealand’s deadliest shooting in modern history took place in 1990 in the small town of Aramoana, where a gunman killed 13 people following a dispute with a neighbor.
Christchurch, sometimes called the Garden City, has been rebuilding since an earthquake in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed many downtown buildings.
https://twitter.com/MatthewKeysLive/status/1106383856779710465
Video: #Shooter apprehended #Christchurch #NewZealand pic.twitter.com/Y9U7Vch106
— vitaxnewsroom (@vitaxnewsroom) March 15, 2019
BREAKING: The New Zealand Herald reports that the shooting at the second mosque was stopped by an armed Muslim who "chased the shooters and fired two shots at them as they sped off." pic.twitter.com/BA2FzsXq2d
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 15, 2019
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “What good are your thoughts & prayers…?” :
At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore.”
But I couldn’t say “imagine.”
Because of Charleston.
Pittsburgh.
Sutherland Springs.What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?pic.twitter.com/2mSw0azDN8
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 15, 2019
https://twitter.com/MatthewKeysLive/status/1106383057739632640
https://twitter.com/i_theindian/status/1106493517440835584
VIDEO: Australian PM says Australian taken into custody in connection with mass shooting in New Zealand; PM Scott Morrison called shooter a "extremist, right-wing, violent terrorist" (BBC) pic.twitter.com/O0Jorkf4jU
— Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) March 15, 2019
(AP)
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30 Responses
Erev parshas Zachor-
Do not forget the evil of Amalek.
What type of animals would do such a thing?
New Zealand has much stricter gun control than in America. In America, the liklihood is someone in the mosque would have been able to defend themselves.
This was a preview of what is inevitably awaiting for us ,and that is a full scale civil war in all the countries who have decided to commit national suicide by admitting millions of enemy aliens who’s aim is not to integrate and live in peace ,but to murder and change the fabric of society and take over.
Eventually the patriots in all these countries will rise up and the result will be a bloody civil war
I shutter at the thought of such an incident happening at our shuls or schools or yeshivos. Very scary.
Very sad! Sending strength to the families!
BDE to all victims. And make no mistake about it, this lunatic could just as easily have chosen a shul. It was just chance that he chose a mosque instead.
They shouldn’t post this piece of garbage’s name or picture, it could inspire others.
This nutcase apparently is a left wing self described “echo-fascist” . In his “manifesto” he explicitly stated that he had a choice of using many types of weapons including vehicles, but chose firearms in order to spark a gun-ban actions in US for the purpose of igniting a civil war.
chugibugi: sounds to me like you are blaming the Muslims here, essentially saying that they caused this. Am I reading your comment correctly?
chugibugi – Are you justifying what this evil individual did?
an Israeli Yid
Arm up and bring your firearm with you to shul.
will Pelosi condemn this with condemning drunk driving and other ills or separately oh wait it will offend muslims so she will condemn this separately its not like any jewish congressman supports terror against muslims.
Our local LE, Mayor and Iman sent out an announcement via community bulletin boards notices us that our local mosque will be under police protection for several days. And rightly so, there have been several attacks against it and it’s members.
To quote the Qur’an, ‘We belong to god and to him we shall return’. May those that grieve be comforted.
Akuperma: Please refresh my recollection: Did anybody at the Pittsburgh shul, Tree of Life, where 9 Jews were killed, shoot back? And prevent any deaths? And are you suggesting that Muslims in America should arm themselves? Do you carry a gun to shul to shoot back in case your shul is attacked? (Do you bring your gun, if any, to shul on Friday afternoon and leave it their for Shabbos? Have you asked your rav if it is permissible to carry a gun on Shabbos, or do you live inside an eruv?
And how often do you take target practice?
Even when off-duty cops join shoot-outs, the results are rarely good.
Akuperna, if you read the article, the perp was chased by an armed Muslim at the site of the second shooting. Some mosques, like churches and some schuls have no weapons policy.
Chugibugi – you are a non-Jewish troll. This is a site for Jews who share a Jewish identity and Jewish values. Mass murder is not one of those values. Please keep your hate-speech off Jewish sites. If you want to spread your venom do it on 4chan or one of your own sites. Keep your verbal filth off Jewish venues.
Incidentally, I am disappointed that YWN is posting photos of the murderer, along with quotes from his “philosophy.” This is part of what he wanted – to propagandize for his hateful views. Please take the pictures and the quotes down. The rest of the story is fine, but why should a Jewish site help spread the views of someone who would kill us just as cheerfully as he butchered other non-Jews of a different religion?
So sorry for all the families involved. Our hearts go out to them.
This guy’s manifesto covers all sorts of things. In one titled “Green nationalism is the only true nationalism”, his implicit motive for this is to save the planet from the ravages of overpopulation by blocking the over-populated immigrants from overpopulating the country. He simply took all that (fake) fear mongering of human-caused climate change to its natural conclusion.
Amil Zola, if you are so familiar with Qur’an, them you must be familiar with Hadidth that every frum Muslim belies : “The Messenger of Allah said: The Last Hour will not come until the Muslims fight against the Jews, until a Jew will hide himself behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: “O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him,” but Al-Gharqad tree will not say so, for it is the tree of the Jews.’”
Ask your local Imam what he thinks abut the above, and please do not tell us it was take “out of context”
On Leil Zayin Adar haSheni [According to the Chazon Ish and Ba’al haMo’or} this is absolutely no way of commemorating the 3291st Johrzeit of the most humble man and leader to have ever lived.
@amil zola, are u muslim?
Moisheingolus: tell me, while you are quoting the Koran, how about our own Torah? Have you ever killed a human being? Are you telling me that you would pull the trigger and kill a six month old baby? Or you would take a sword and behead a six year old girl? When you tell me that ,indeed, you would do it, you can quote the Koran. Until then, leave this all to the realm of theory.
Moishe, remember too it was the Muslim community who paid for the funerals for the Jews slaughtered in Pittsburgh.
No white car, I’m a Yid who has had modern Muslim friends all my life. Today I have modern Muslim neighbors. They are much like those Muslims that paid for the Pittsburgh funerals and stood guard outside of the synagogues in Pittsburgh after that slaughter. And just like my Jewish community here lost a friend and relative in Pittsburgh our local Muslim community suffered the same loss in NZ. And because we are a community we don’t mock the grief of others regardless of their faith.
Amil Zol these fake ‘act of kindness” are specifically done for gullible people like yourself. The same Muslim community that you claim “paid” for the funerals hosted Islamo-Nazi Jew-hater Pittsburgh Imam Naeem Abdullah just few days later who said: “Jews ‘Run Everything,’ ‘Have All The Money,’ And Are Cowards; Allah Changed Some Jews Into Apes And Pig”
rabbiofMentalAsylum, RE “Have you ever killed a human being? Are you telling me that you would pull the trigger and kill a six month old baby? Or you would take a sword and behead a six year old girl? When you tell me that”. Muslims do it every day all over the world while screaming “alah akbar”. And please, before you claim a title of a “rabbi” for yourself, go and learn some basic Torah.
Amil Zol, ask your “modern” Muslim neighbors where do they stand on HAMAS and Hezbollah. Today after learning of a slaughter of young Jewish soldier in EY and critically wounding father of 12 children Muslims in EY went on celebrating on their streets passing candies to children. What some of your “best” Muslim friends think about that?
moisheingolus_ of course you did not answer my question, Typical of your stunted growth
rabbiofMentalAsylum, in the typical Jewish fashion i will answer your “question” with my question: did you drown your grandmother in the bathtub?