There was shooting incidents happened in two of Christ Church mosques on Friday afternoon-15th March 2019. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that it is an act or terror.
The current death toll increased to 49 died and 48 injured are treated in hospital. Death toll could increase as New Zealand health authorities still not able to confirm the situation.
"It was an unprecedented situation and the darkest day for New Zealand. Those who chose to commit this crime will not succeed and have no place in New Zealand, those migrants and refugees chose us, they chose New Zealand to be their homes, they are us," says Ms Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister.
Ms Ardern has urged the public to follow officials orders, remain indoor and stop sharing those sensitive images or videos that has been circulated on various platforms, indicating authorities will find ways to take all of them down, security on border, airports was tightened and Christ Church was in a lock-down position.
She said that safety and security for New Zealanders are the utmost priority, police and defense forces are deployed with necessary resources and means to maintain peace and security for New Zealand. Ambulance and health authorities are working around the clock to treat those who were injured and has urged people not to visit patients.
Listen to New Zealand shooting podcast here: https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/services/embeds/audioplayer/c8859b76-866e-4c66-be2b-30b96075a452
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that all those are responsible for this terror act was apprehended and are in custody. This person is know as an Australian-born man aged 28 not a New Zealand Citizen has obtained those weapons legally in New Zealand has been apprehended with three others, where authorities confirmed that there are three men and one woman. They all have no previous criminal history and are not on the watch lists.
Latest updates reported that the 28 years old Australian man from Sydney known by the name Brenton Tarrent 9 (Brenton Harrison Tarranth), one of the shooters has been charged with murder and did not apply for bail. He has previously publish his 74 pages Manifesto to originally targeting DuneDin according to The Guardian.
He has published Facebook Live while he was driving to the mosque, got his weapons and started the shooting when he entered the mosque, he then also shoot indiscriminately when he got out of the mosque.
The second man, an 18 year old Daniel John Burrough has also been charged with racial hatred according to The Guardian. The second shooting incidents occurred at Deans Avenue Mosque.
New Zealand Prime Minister has vowed to vote and change its gun laws in regarding to firearms license.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison along with other world leaders including the UN Security Council and Queen Elizabeth have offered their condolences to New Zealand citizens and its government during this difficult time.
Dr. Rateb Jneid the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils Inc has also urged politicians, media platforms, media commentators not to use this incident as Islamophobia to target Muslim communities and has asked his communities through out Australian to remain vigilant, meanwhile New Zealand Islamic Council stated that they have been living in this country for century and it is their home now.
