Crime

Police detects Christchurch attacker as ‘lone gunman’

Published

5 years ago

March 18, 2019

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New Zealand Police has detected that the man charged over Friday’s twin mosque attacks in the New Zealand city of Christchurch may have acted alone. Thus, the Police profiled him as a lone gunman.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a self-described white supremacist, live-streamed the attack on Facebook.

Three others arrested afterwards are not believed to have been involved, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

Tributes have been paid for the 50 victims while the first bodies are expected to be released for burial.

About 34 people are in hospital receiving treatment for injuries including severe gunshot wounds. A four-year-old girl remains in a critical condition.

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said her cabinet would discuss issues including gun policy reform on Monday, repeating that there would be “changes to our gun laws”.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, she said parliament on Tuesday would pay tribute to victims of what she described as an “act of terror” and that she expected the bodies of all those killed to be returned to their families by Wednesday.

Ms Ardern also said there were “further questions to be answered” about the role of social media sites such as Facebook, which was used to broadcast live footage of the attacks. She said these platforms had “a wide reach” and this was “a problem that goes way beyond New Zealand”.