Three committing a planned act of terrorism against two Mosques in Christ Church, New Zealand, ended up killing at least 50 peoples with at least 48 having been injured. The 3-4 suspects (3 men and 1 woman) have been taken into custody. They had left behind an anti-immigration manifesto of many pages, filled with hatred. This day of terror on the 15th of March 2019 seemed to last forever even as most offices, schools were in lock-down
The police found cars with two explosive devices.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern descibes the shootings at two mosques in New Zealand as a well-planned “terrorist attack.”
One of the shooters live-streamed his killing spree on Facebook. Officials were begging news outlets not to make use of these videos as the violence and cruelty depicted in them is just not what represents the values of New Zealand.
One reporter who had viewed them said the brutality of the scenes are hard to describe. One shooter made sure to go back to victims who may have been pretending to be dead, and executed them.
Here is an update on 3/15/2019:
The police have shared with the public that four people, including three men and one woman, had been taken into custody. One of them was Australian.
Numerous firearms were recovered from the scenes of the shootings. Two explosive devices have been located and detonated. There were racist words and phrases written on their weapons. These were right wing White Supremacists terrorists.
As per a 3/15 New York Times, “Of the three others who were detained, the police commissioner said that one might have had nothing to do with the attack and that the police were working to determine how the other two might have been involved.”
“Ms. Ardern said earlier that none of those detained were on security watch lists.”
On March 15, 2019, the Guardian published the following report, “Christchurch shooting: 40 dead in terrorist attack at two mosques – live updates”
Excerpts:
What we know so far
“New Zealand police have conducted a controlled detonation at Auckland’s largest train station, the Britomart Transport Centre.”
“New Zealand is with you,” said a woman who dropped off lillies. “New Zealand stands by you”.
“The shooter was screaming, waving the gun around wildly and firing it in every direction. He then left the mosque. Hassan is from Sri Lanka and has lived in New Zealand for 6 months. He came to New Zealand for work and opportunities.”
“I thought New Zealand was a safe, peaceful country for everyone. I came here because I knew there were no wars. Police told me ‘I am sorry, this is the first time this has ever in this country.’ I don’t know who is dead or alive. I am waiting.”
(New Zealand Prime Minister ) Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand was “chosen for this act of violence” because it is an example of multiculturalism, diversity and acceptance.
“We New Zealanders were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone this racism, or because we are an enclave of extremism, we were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things,” she said.
“I want to send a message to those directly affected…For many this may have not been the place they were born. For many New Zealand was their choice, a place they actively came to and committed themselves to…it was a place where many came to for their safety. A place where it was safe to practice their culture and religion.
“We represent diversity and compassion, a home for those who share our values, a refuge for those who need it. And those values will not and can not be shaken by this attack. We are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities and 160 languages.”
She issues “the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people who did this”.
“You may have chosen us but we utterly reject and condemn you.”
“Shortly before the shooting, someone appearing to be the gunman publicly posted links to a manifesto on Twitter and 8chan, an online forum. The 8chan post included a link to what appeared to be the gunman’s Facebook page, where he said he’d soon broadcast live video of the attack.”
“The 17-minute video, which appeared to be recorded on a helmet camera, shows his drive to the mosque, followed by a harrowing nearly two minutes of his firing on the worshipers in one of the mosques before fleeing the building and running back to his car and swapping weapons.”
“He then is seen re-entering the mosque and again begins shooting, continuing to methodically move through the mosque. Several victims can be seen in the footage, many lying on top of one another motionless in a corner of the room.”
After few minutes, he leaves again, gets in his vehicle and drives away, talking to himself throughout.
“There wasn’t even time to aim, there was so many targets,” he says at one point.
The New Zealand police said on Twitter they were “aware there is extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online,” and urged people not to share the link. “We’re working to have any footage removed,” the police said.
Facebook said it was alerted by the police shortly after the livestream started. “We quickly removed both the shooter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video,” Mia Garlick, a Facebook representative, said in a statement. “We’re also removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters as soon as we’re aware.”
The video and Twitter posts showed weapons covered in the names of past military generals and men who have recently carried out mass shootings.
In his manifesto, he identified himself as a 28-year-old man born in Australia. He listed his white nationalist heroes, described what he said motivated him to attack, and said he purposely used guns to stir discord in the US around the Second Amendment.
The website Stuff reported that the police had cleared Cathedral Square, about halfway between the two mosques, where people had gathered at a rally to fight climate change.
Gronda Morin 
Gday mate, it was four. Three men and one woman. One of the men is Australian. To be continued…
Hugs.
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the weapons had words written upon them, names of several European politicians and poms. The cars had IUD’s, but these persons were not able to take on unarmed police officers, they had no cognitive conception of their evil. Indeed, they are now in the hands of the Police force. Allready there is much movement within Australia, and with out partners at Pine Gap, to analyse and discover the extent this has had. But I am shore you know all this. 4 so far. hugs.
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Dear Gary J.,
First of all, I and the world are devastated over this tragedy happening in Christchurch, New Zealand, a community that’s not known for this kind of violence like in US. This hate against immigrants knows no boundaries but it is an evil that’s taken hold and it needs to be countered.
This news is so disheartening. We are truly saddened over your loss in your part of the world and our hearts are with you.
I’ve read too many reports. Most said there were 4 but then there were 3. But originally the reports said 4, 3 men and 1 women. I’m going with what you said.
Hugs, Gronda
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Sorry, one person with a weapon was attempting to assist police. (which is weird) as people don’t carry guns in this part of the world. Already Jacinta Adern is going to change NZ gun laws.
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This is an unspeakable evil. The only fit punishment is to lock these creatures away forever and remove all evidence of their existence from every network, making it a crime to even mention them. Enough is enough.
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Dear Roger,
I like your thinking. I don’t need to know there names. I want Facebook and other social web sites to delete any thing written by these terrorists. I do want these crimes described as acts of terrorism versus hate crimes.
Then I want to call out those politicians who traffic in anti-immigration prejudices to be called out as inciting terrorist activity by right wing home grown zealots.
Hugs, Gronda
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And show them pictures of the dead and weeping children then ask them to come out in public and say what they think of those?
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