Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, appeared in the Christchurch district court on Saturday morning. He is accused of murdering a man, whose name was suppressed by Judge Paul Kellar on grounds of undue hardship to his family. No application for bail was made. Tarrant was remanded in custody without plea to the high court in Christchurch on 5 April.
After Tarrant left the court, the judge said that while “there is one charge of murder brought at the moment, it is reasonable to assume that there will be others”.
Earlier, New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said Tarrant had been charged with one count of murder, with other charges to follow.
"Children are among the 49 killed in yesterday’s terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch. The main suspect intended to continue his attack and had modified weapons but was arrested by two community police officers. There were two other firearms were in his vehicle and he was arrested 36 minutes after the first emergency call. He is facing one count of murder but there will be further charges. Thirty-nine people are in hospital, 11 are in intensive care, ranging from children to the elderly", prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said at the press conference today.
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has just given a press conference. He confirmed that the main suspect “was on nobody’s radar” and that “this is the real challenge with regard to terrorism”.
He denounced comments by an Australian senator that blamed the massacre on immigration laws. Fraser Anning’s comments were “appalling” and “ugly” and have no place in Australia or the Australian parliament, he said.
Morrison said it was too early to tell whether the shooting suspect, an Australian, would be extradited, saying the process begins with New Zealand’s justice system.
New Zealand has awoken grieving and on high alert after a massacre at two mosques in Christchurch left 49 dead and dozens more injured in the country's worst shooting and terror attack.
Several of those killed or wounded in the deadly shootings at two New Zealand mosques were from the Middle East or south Asia.
Police have urged survivors to update an online register with confirmation that they are alive and also if a loved one is missing. The New Zealand Red Cross published a list of missing people, representing nationalities including those from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Jordan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
While the gunman and two other people who remain in custody have not yet been named by police and their exact roles have not been confirmed, former NSW personal trainer Brenton Tarrant online identified himself as behind the shooting that began as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers in the South Island city on Friday.
A 28-year-old man charged with murder has faced court on Saturday.
Officials say 41 people were killed at the Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue, before fire broke out at Linwood Masjid six kilometres away, leaving seven more dead. One other died in hospital.
Police on Saturday confirmed 42 were still being treated for injuries, including a four-year-old in critical condition.
The unprecedented event, confirmed as an act of terror by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has seen the country's threat level raised to high for the first time in its history.
Public events across the nation scheduled for the weekend have been cancelled amid safety fears, with police officers and helicopters on patrol.
"There is no guarantee the risk is limited to Canterbury and we need all New Zealanders to be extra vigilant," police said in the morning.
Ardern vowed to change the country's gun laws after confirming Tarrant had obtained a Category A gun licence in November 2017 and "under that, he was able to acquire the guns that he held".
The Australian gunman, who had based himself in Dunedin, used two semi-automatic weapons, two shotguns and a lever-action firearm, Ms Ardern said.
"When people, of course, hear that this individual had acquired a gun licence and acquired weapons of that range, then obviously I think people will be seeking change, and I'm committing to that," Ms Ardern told reporters in Wellington.
"There have been attempts to change our laws in 2005, 2012 and after an inquiry in 2017. Now is the time for change."
Reports of gunfire first came at about 1.40pm on Friday, armed officers descending on the Al Noor mosque near Hagley Oval, clearing the public from the area and sending the city into lockdown.
In signs police say show a well-planned attack, army personnel were also called in to dismantle explosive devices found in a stopped car and officers were in the evening searching a house in Dunedin, 360 kilometres away, clearing nearby homes for safety.
Witnesses described bloody scenes and bodies falling to the ground as worshippers ran for doors and a shooter moved from room to room for around 20 minutes.
Who is the Australian suspect behind the New Zealand terror attack?
The alleged gunman behind the New Zealand attack has identified himself as Australian-born.
The shooter who is suspected to have carried out at least one of the New Zealand mosque attacks is an Australian citizen.
On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed an Australian is now in custody over the attacks.
"Australian authorities are involved and they will be proceeding with their investigation," he said.
Christchurch shooting suspect Brenton Tarrant was not known to NSW Police for radical political activity prior to the massacre on Friday and police have not detected any links to local extremist groups as they continue to investigate his background. His only contact with police in NSW was over minor traffic matters, Police Commissioner Michael Fuller said standing alongside the NSW Premier on Saturday morning. Commissioner Fuller said there were "no active threats to NSW" as a result of the shooting and the terrorist rating remained at "probable".
"We know that terrorism has many faces, we know that individual actors will represent different groups and they're all abhorrent, we investigate them all equally and we protect the people of NSW equally," Commissioner Fuller said.
Senior police will talk with members of the Australian National Imams Council this morning.
"I want to reinforce the message that we are there to protect everyone," Commissioner Fuller said. "There will be people feeling vulnerable today in all walks of life in our community.
"I need to make sure that message is reinforced with community leaders because they are the influencers in their community so it's important they hear it from me."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Opposition Leader Michael suspended their election campaigns for the day on Saturday, with the premier declaring it "inappropriate" to continue on a day that the community should be pulling together.
Earlier, a Facebook Live video was posted by the account "Brenton Tarrant 9" with the credit "Brenton Tarrant was live" which showed the gunman attacking Christchurch's Al Noor mosque.
In a 74-page manifesto setting out the reasons for the attack, reportedly authored by the shooter, he further described himself as "just an ordinary white man, 28 years old. Born in Australia to a working class, low income family".
In the manifesto, seen by SBS News, the man who identifies as Brenton Tarrant said he "only arrived in New Zealand to live temporarily whilst I planned and trained" but then decided to carry out an attack there.
The author does not mention how long or where he lived in Australia, but AAP is reporting he grew up in Grafton, NSW.
Under a heading "why did you carry out the attack?" he says it was to avenge "thousands of deaths caused by foreign invaders."
Former intelligence and defence policy analyst Dr Paul G Buchanan said the shooting was "a classic case of right-wing extremism, right-wing terrorism."
He told SBS News that the manifesto reminded him of Norweigan terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.
The 28-year-old, who is now in police custody, in his manifesto also claimed that he had "brief contact" with Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.
A 17-minute video appeared online, taken from a helmet camera showed a shooter in his car, arming himself, getting out of the vehicle and entering the mosque where he started shooting. Authorities rushed to stop it circulating.
Sydney Morning Herald reports that the 28-year-old, who attended Grafton High School before getting his qualifications in fitness, listened to 17th-century British military music before allegedly opening fire on two mosques in New Zealand’s south island in a meticulously-planned attack.
The same video showed the gunman driving and playing a songs in German and in Serbian language from the Bosnian conflict in the early 1990, reports Al Jazeera.
In photographs from a now-deleted Twitter account associated with the 28-year-old suspect that match the weaponry seen in his livestreamed video of the mass shooting on Friday, there were references - written in Cyrillic, Armenian and Georgian - to people famous for fighting against Muslims, according to screen grabs posted by other social media users.
Among the names seen on the weaponry were several Montenegrin and Serb figures praised in Montenegrin and Serbian epic poetry who fought against the Ottomans in 14th century.
"The terrorist attack in New Zealand is unrelated to Serbia, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said at a press conference on Friday", commenting on alleged presence of Serbian nationalist music and symbols in the live video of the attack.
The foreign minister said his country sees reports that allege such connections as abuses.
He said that Serbia strongly condemned the terrorist attack that killed 49 people in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand and wounded dozens of others, and pointed out that the attacker, regardless of the various reports, had nothing to do with Serbia, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported.
"I condemn these types of abuses, the man (attacker) has nothing to do with Serbia, I do not know who can be his inspiration, but I saw names of other countries on that list too," he said. "Serbia has nothing to do with it, we do not ask anyone to revenge any Serbian victim in the world. We condemn this type of abuse, which is detrimental to Serbian interests and we will arrest anyone suspected of having this kind of interest," Dacic said.
Dacic expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and wounded in the attacks, adding that the result is the result of a "global evil" of terrorism, against which countries can fight only jointly, and with a non-selective approach.
On his Twitter account Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has extended sincere condolences to the Governor-General of New Zealand Patsy Reddy for the ruthless attacks at mosques in Christchurch, in which many innocent people who were searching for peace through prayer were killed.
Serbian PM Ana Brnabic has also expressed her condolences to the families and teh NZ Government. "Serbia stands with New Zealand to condemn this horrific act of terrorism." she twitted.
"Balkan Connections"
AFP reports that Bulgarian prosecutors have launched an investigation into a recent trip to the country by an Australian man alleged to be the gunman who killed 49 people in attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The suspected killer, who identified himself as Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant, visited Bulgaria from November 9 to November 15 claiming he wanted "to visit historical sites and study the history of the Balkan country," Bulgaria's chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said on March 15.
Tsatsarov said the probe would establish if this was "correct or if he had other objectives."
Investigators say the man arrived in Sofia from Dubai on November 9 and hired a car the following day to visit historical sites in ten locations.
He left on November 15 on a flight bound for neighboring Romania's capital, Bucharest, where he hired a car to travel to Hungary, Tsatsarov said.
He had also made a short visit to the Balkans on December 28-30, 2016, traveling by bus across Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Bulgarian authorities said they were in contact with authorities in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, and Montenegro over the matter. (AFP)
- Any Australians who cannot get in contact with loved ones, or have fears for their safety, are urged to call DFAT’s Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (within Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas).
