CHRISTCHURCH/WELLINGTON - The death toll
in the New Zealand mosque shootings rose to 50 on Sunday after
police found another victim at one of the mosques, and Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern said bodies of those killed would begin
to be released to families for burial.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white
supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday. Tarrant was
remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5
where police said he was likely to face more charges.
Friday's attack, which Ardern labelled as terrorism, was the
worst ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand and the country
had raised its security threat level to the highest.
Footage of the attack on one of the mosques was broadcast
live on Facebook, and a "manifesto" denouncing immigrants as
"invaders" was also posted online via links to related social
media accounts.
It is customary in Islam to bury the dead within 24 hours
but no bodies have been released because of the investigation,
police said.
Arden said bodies would be handed over to families from
Sunday evening.
"It is likely, however, to be a small number to begin with,"
she told a media briefing, adding that all should be returned by
Wednesday.
Ardern said police would be posted at all mosques while they
are open.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush said the body of the 50th
victim was found at the Al Noor mosque, where more than 40
people died after a gunman entered and shot at people with a
semi-automatic rifle with high-capacity magazines, before
travelling to a second mosque.
HERO HAILED
One man at the second mosque in the suburb of Linwood was
being hailed for distracting and confronting the shooter,
preventing further deaths.
Abdul Aziz, 48, told media he heard shooting and ran outside
the mosque, shouting at the gunman and drawing him away from the
building, the Newshub website reported.
Aziz, originally from Afghanistan, said he picked up one of
the gunman's discarded weapons and threatened the man, who drove
off.
Police then rammed the gunman's vehicle and arrested him.
"Those two police officers acted with absolute courage,"
Bush said. "They have prevented further deaths and risked their
own lives to do so."
Church services for victims of the attack were held around
the country, including at Christchurch's "Cardboard Cathedral",
a temporary structure built after much of the central city was
destroyed in a 2011 earthquake.
Thirty-four people were in Christchurch Hospital, with 12 in
intensive care, while one child was moved to a dedicated
children's hospital in Auckland.
Greg Robertson, head of surgery at Christchurch Hospital
said staff were used to seeing gunshot wounds and severe
injuries, but the scale and nature of the attacks was different.
"The magnitude of this is the thing that is the most
significant issue for people. It's just comprehending what is
the incomprehensible."
Friends and relatives of victims streamed into a support
centre set up at a school across the park from the Al Noor
mosque. One woman carried sandwiches and falafel.
A student, who asked not to be identified, said a friend had
been killed.
“He was studying to be a pilot and we saw him for morning
classes. Then he went to the mosque as usual. And we are not
hearing from him," he said. "I got a call last night from a
friend, around midnight, to say he has passed away.”
The majority of victims were migrants or refugees from
countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey,
Somalia and Afghanistan.
Pakistan's high commissioner said six citizens had been
killed and three were missing.
FACEBOOK, GUNS
Bush said police did not believe that three other people
arrested on Friday were involved in the attack. Two men faced
charges unrelated or "tangential" to the attack, while a woman
had been released, he said.
Tarrant did not have a criminal history and was not on any
watchlists in New Zealand or Australia.
In a manifesto emailed out to various people including
government leaders, and posted online, nine minutes before the
attack began, Tarrant described himself as "Just a ordinary
White man, 28 years old" who used the spoils of cryptocurrency
trading to finance extensive travels through Europe from
2016-2018.
The shootings have raised new questions about violence being
disseminated online.
Ardern told the briefing that she had been contacted by
Facebook operations chief Sheryl Sandberg who had acknowledged
what had happened.
"This is an issue that I will look to be discussing directly
with Facebook," Ardern said.
Facebook said on Twitter it had removed 1.5 million videos
of the attack in the first 24 hours and it was also removing all
edited versions, even those without graphic content.
The violence has also shone a new light on gun control.
Ardern said Tarrant was a licensed gun owner who allegedly
used five weapons, including two semi-automatic weapons and two
shotguns, which had been modified.
"I can tell you one thing right now, our gun laws will
change," Ardern told reporters on Saturday, saying a ban on
semi-automatic weapons would be considered.
New Zealand has in the past tried to tighten firearm laws,
but a strong gun lobby and culture of hunting has stymied such
efforts.
There are an estimated 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand,
which has a population of only 5 million, but it has had low
levels of gun violence.