A white Australian right-wing terrorist is one of four people arrested over a pair of mosque massacres in New Zealand that has left at least 49 dead and 48 injured.
The gunman, who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant from Grafton, NSW, Australia, stormed the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch on the country’s South Island about 1.30pm, opening fire with a semi-automatic shotgun and a rifle on hundreds of defenceless worshippers attending Friday prayers.
A sickening 17-minute video of the unfolding horror shows the self-confessed white supremacist dressed in army fatigues firing mercilessly at people scrambling to flee, and calmly reloading when he runs out of bullets.
At about the same time, what appears to be a second shooter opened fire at at mosque in Linwood, which is within 10km of the first attack.
In the aftermath of the bloody attacks, three men and one woman were arrested, with police charging ‘one man in his late 20s’ with murder. He is expected to face court on Saturday.
Three of the arrests are believed to be directly related to the attacks, with the fourth’s involvement still being determined.
Of the 49 fatalities, 41 were killed at the Al Noor Mosque and seven at the Linwood Avenue mosque.
The gunman entered the Al Noor Mosque on Friday during afternoon prayers and opened fire.
The distressing video streamed on his Facebook shows the 28-year-old man firing more than 100 shots at those inside.
His guns were scrawled with the names of past mass killers and cities where the shootings occurred.
The gunman’s rampage began when he got into his car wearing military-style body armour and a helmet saying ‘let’s get this party started’.
He then drove to the mosque listening to folk music and military tunes before parking in an alley around the corner.
Brenton Tarrant, 28, grew up in Grafton, a small town in northern New South Wales.
Tarrant’s father, who was a competitive athlete and completed 75 triathlons, died of cancer in 2010 aged just 49. His mother still lives in the area.
Tarrant attended a local high school and then worked as a personal trainer at the local Big River Squash and Fitness Centre from 2010.