Christchurch shootings: 49 dead in New Zealand mosque attacks

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New Zealand mosque shootings kill 49

Forty-nine people have been killed and at least 20 wounded in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack and one of New Zealand's "darkest days".

A man in his late twenties was charged with murder and will appear in court on Saturday morning, police confirmed.

Two other men and one woman were detained nearby and firearms seized, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

He said one of those detained was later released, while officers were working to understand if the other two were connected.

Police also found multiple explosive devices in a car belonging to one of the suspects.

The attack, which came around the time people were attending the mosques for Friday prayers, was the deadliest in the nation's history.

One gunman live-streamed footage of his rampage to Facebook, filmed with a head-mounted camera. The footage showed him firing indiscriminately at men, women and children from close range inside the Al-Noor mosque.

Police called on the public not to share the "extremely distressing" footage online. Facebook said it had removed the gunman's Facebook and Instagram accounts and was working to remove any copies of the footage.



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Live Updates: 49 killed in coordinated terrorist shootings at 2 mosques in New Zealand; 3 suspects in custody

At least 49 people were killed in a shooting attack on the southern island of New Zealand on Friday when a gunman opened fire inside two mosques.

The shootings in Christchurch, categorized as a terrorist attack, included 41 deaths at one mosque, according to authorities. Christchurch Hospital also confirmed it was treating 48 people for gunshot wounds, ranging from minor to critical. One person died at the hospital.

(MORE: Survivors describe harrowing escape from attack on New Zealand mosques)

The gunman, who was dressed in tactical gear, appeared to livestream video of the shooting on social media, according to New Zealand police, documenting his trip from his vehicle and into the worship center in central Christchurch, where he opened fire indiscriminately.

"This is one of New Zealand’s darkest days," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a press conference Friday afternoon.

Four people, three men and one woman, were taken into custody in the hours following the attack. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed one of them was an Australian citizen. The man has been charged with murder and will appear in court Saturday, police said.

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PHOTO: A man reacts as he speaks on a mobile phone outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. (AP)

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Police later said one of the four taken into custody had a firearm, but was not connected to the attack. The other two continue to be investigated.

Ardern said none of the suspects were on any active terrorist watch lists and it was "not a matter of someone slipping under the radar."

The shooter also opened fire in the surrounding area outside of the mosques. Police said they recovered two improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles in the area, but they were rendered safe.

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PHOTO: A map shows the location of two shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday, March 15, 2019. (AP)

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"A serious and evolving situation is occurring in Christchurch with an active shooter. Police are responding with its full capability to manage the situation, but the risk environment remains extremely high," New Zealand Police tweeted. "Police recommend that residents across Christchurch remain off the streets and indoors until further notice."

(MORE: 5 dead in shooting at Florida bank, suspect in custody: Police)

A spokesperson for the Canterbury District Health Board said it activated its mass casualty plan, putting public locations in the area on lockdown.

"Christchurch schools will be locked down until further notice," the police department tweeted. "Police thanks the public for their cooperation and will provide further updates to keep residents informed."

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PHOTO: Ambulance staff take a man from outside a mosque in central Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. A witness says many people have been killed in a mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. (AP)

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Those lockdowns were lifted several hours after the attack ended.

Witnesses said the attack occurred just before 1:40 p.m. local time as the worship leader gave the sermon.

"The Sheikh was giving the sermon on Friday prayers and it was 1:42 [p.m.] and the gun starts shooting and he just came in and he was shooting ad hoc," eyewitness Ramzan Ali told The Associated Press.
 
I never understand why don't these countries ban these lethal guns, if your ego is so enormous that it consumes thousands of lives every year at least ban automatic weapons and allow only small weapons that can protect you by wounding attacker and not by killing.

A gun maniac like Zaid Hamid wants more guns in his country where AK 47 culture is already prevalent, these people have some mental issues or what? I have seen few videos of him looking like a buffon in a combat gear shooting in a range, even uses his wife as a prop to promote gun culture.
 
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I never understand why don't these countries ban these lethal guns, if your ego is so enormous that it consumes thousands of lives every year at least ban automatic weapons and allow only small weapons that can protect you by wounding attacker and not by killing.

A gun maniac like Zaid Hamid wants more guns in his country where AK 47 culture is already prevalent, these people have some mental issues or what? I have seen few videos of him looking like a buffon in a combat gear shooting in a range, even uses her wife as a prop to promote gun culture.

I think guns are already banned
 
I never understand why don't these countries ban these lethal guns, if your ego is so enormous that it consumes thousands of lives every year at least ban automatic weapons and allow only small weapons that can protect you by wounding attacker and not by killing.

Full-automatic firearms are not allowed for regular civilian ownership even in US, let alone NZ. They require special permits to acquire. What was used here was a semi-automatic rifle. There's no such thing as a non-lethal gun. That said, most gun crime is actually committed using handguns, not rifles.

A gun maniac like Zaid Hamid wants more guns in his country where AK 47 culture is already prevalent, these people have some mental issues or what? I have seen few videos of him looking like a buffon in a combat gear shooting in a range, even uses her wife as a prop to promote gun culture.

Some idiot living in a mostly lawless land is hardly an icon for gun discipline. As the picture I posted above shows, 1 in 4 people in NZ have guns. But gun crime (or any crime for that matter) in NZ is very, very, very low. It comes with being a civilized society that knows its rights. However, some psychopaths will always be there.
 
Full-automatic firearms are not allowed for regular civilian ownership even in US, let alone NZ. They require special permits to acquire. What was used here was a semi-automatic rifle. There's no such thing as a non-lethal gun. That said, most gun crime is actually committed using handguns, not rifles.
They are if they were purchased before this pussy law came into effect in 1986.

The legal loopholes that let people get automatic guns

Under federal law, fully automatic weapons are technically legal only if made before 1986, when Congress passed the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act. So it’s now illegal to manufacture new automatic weapons for civilian use.

That gets us to the first loophole: If you have an automatic weapon from before 1986, it was grandfathered through the law. So it’s still legal to buy, sell, and exchange these kinds of weapons, including in Nevada, as long as they’re a few decades old — although with some extra hurdles that don’t apply to other types of firearms, such as registering fully automatic guns with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and paying a special tax, with the risk of additional penalties if someone doesn’t comply.

There are more than 630,000 of these guns in circulation, according to federal data.

This means that the weapons Arnie bought from the gun shop in The Terminator would be fully legal, since they were manufactured and sold before 1986.
 
I would argue that several decades of Islamic terrorism are to blame for this shooting.

Islamic terrorism definitely have a huge role in pushing ordinary peoples to right and right to far right across the world. I don't think that there exist a cure for Islamic terrorism. Any evolution of ideology will take centuries, which by the way is not happening. Hopefully once the oil run out, Islamists won't have enough money to fund radicalism outside.
 
A crocodile once invited me to an embrace in a swamp. I turned it down.