True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Christchurch Mosque Shootings Part I

On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton at 1:40 pm and continued at the Linwood Islamic Center at 1:52 pm. 51 people were killed and 40 others were injured.

The gunman, 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant from Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, was arrested after his vehicle was rammed by a police unit as he was driving to a third mosque in Ashburton. He was described in media reports as a white supremacist. He had live-streamed the first shooting on Facebook, and prior to the attack, had published an online manifesto; both the video and manifesto were subsequently banned in New Zealand and Australia. On 26 March 2020, he pleaded guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders, and engaging in a terrorist act and in August was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – the first such sentence in New Zealand.

The attack was linked to an increase in white supremacy and alt-right extremism globally observed since about 2015. Politicians and world leaders condemned it, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". The government established a royal commission into its security agencies in the wake of the shootings, which were the deadliest in modern New Zealand history and the worst ever committed by an Australian national. The commission submitted its report to the government on 26 November 2020, the details of which were made public on 7 December.

Background

New Zealand has been considered a safe and tolerant place with low levels of gun violence and was named the second-most peaceful country in the world by Global Peace Index in 2019, the year of the attacks. This attack was the first mass shooting in the country since the Raurimu massacre in 1997; prior to that, the deadliest public mass shooting was the 1990 Aramoana massacre, in which 13 people died. While New Zealand has rarely been associated with far-right extremism, experts have suggested it has been growing there. Sociologist Paul Spoonley called Christchurch a hotbed for white supremacists and the extreme nationalist movement, a suggestion rejected by Christchurch-based MP Gerry Brownlee. Australia, where the gunman, Brenton Tarrant, was from, has also seen an increase in xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia.

In the 2018 census, some 57,000 New Zealand residents (1.2% of the population) reported their religion as Islam. The Al Noor Mosque, the first mosque in the South Island, opened in June 1985. The Linwood Islamic Centre opened in early 2018.

Events

Al Noor Mosque

On 15 March 2019, at 1:40 pm, Tarrant entered the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton and began shooting. Approximately 190 people, mostly men, were attending Friday prayer at the time.

Tarrant live-streamed for 17 minutes (before and during the first shooting, and between the two shootings) on Facebook Live, starting with the drive to the Al Noor mosque and ending as he drove away. Just before the shooting, he played several songs, including "Remove Kebab", a Serb nationalist and anti-Muslim song; and "The British Grenadiers", a traditional British military marching song. During the shooting, he continued to play "military music" from a portable speaker attached to a tactical vest he was wearing.

As Tarrant approached the mosque, a worshipper greeted him with "Hello, brother". Tarrant fired a Mossberg 930 semiautomatic shotgun nine times towards the front entrance from outside, killing the worshipper. He then dropped the shotgun and opened fire on people inside with an AR-15 style rifle, killing three other men near the entrance and dozens more inside a prayer hall; a strobe light attached to one of his weapons disoriented victims. Another worshipper charged at Tarrant but was shot and fatally wounded. This worshipper, Naeem Rashid, was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Shujaat and the New Zealand Cross, the highest awards of bravery in Pakistan and New Zealand respectively.