“One of New Zealand’s darkest days”: PM says after mosque shooting

FAN Editor
CBSN

New Zealand shooting: What we know

  • Police commissioner said there are a “significant” number of fatalities.
  • Four people are in custody.
  • Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”
  • A man who claimed responsibility for the shootings wrote a manifesto expressing concern about “white genocide.”

There are “significant” number of fatalities after shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, police said. Four people are in custody, police commissioner Mike Bush said.

Police said there were multiple casualties at a mosque on Deans Ave. and a location on Linwood Ave.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she could not confirm the number of causalities or fatalities but said “it’s clear this is one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

Follow below for live updates:


A man who claimed responsibility for the shootings wrote of “white genocide”

In a manifesto that appears to have been posted around the time of the attack, a man who claimed responsibility for the shootings describes himself as an “ordinary” 28 year old born in Australia. CBS News cannot confirm that it was actually posted by the attacker.

He says his parents are of Scottish, Irish and English descent and writes about what he calls “white genocide” driven by a “crisis of mass immigration.”

He says he carried out the attack “to show invaders that our lands will never be their lands…as long as the white man still lives.” He says “we must ensure the existence of our people, and future for white children.”

The purported shooter says he is a supporter of Donald Trump’s in one sense, but not completely: “As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no.”

4 people in custody, police commisioner says

Police commissioner Mike Bush said at a press conference that there are four people in custody. He said three are men and the other is a woman.

“I won’t assume there aren’t others,” Bush said.

He did not give an exact number of people killed or injured but said there were a “significant” number of fatalities.

He said they “aren’t assuming” it is limited to Christchurch.

There were a number IEDs attached to vehicles that were stopped, Bush said.

Police officers will now be carrying weapons.

Police urged all mosques in New Zealand to close their doors

Police said there multiple casualties at a mosque on Deans Ave. and a location on Linwood Ave.

Police also urged all mosques in New Zealand to close their doors and asked residents to refrain from visiting.

Residents of Christchurch were also asked to stay indoors.

Prime Minister: “It’s clear this is one of New Zealand’s darkest days”

Prime minister calls mosque shooting “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference that “it’s clear this is one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

“Clearly what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” Ardern said.

Ardern said many of the people directly affected by the shooting may be migrants or refugees. “They have chosen to make New Zealand their home and they are us … there is no place in New Zealand for acts of unprecedented and extreme violence, which it is clear this is.”

Witness: “I saw dead people everywhere”

Witness Len Peneha told the Associated Press he saw a man dressed in black enter the Masjid Al Noor mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror.

“I saw dead people everywhere,” Peneha said. “There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque. It’s unbelievable nutty. I don’t understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It’s ridiculous.”

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