A white Australian right-wing terrorist who livestreamed his sickening shooting spree on Facebook is one of four people arrested over dual mosque attacks which left 49 dead and 48 injured on New Zealand’s 'darkest day'.
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 about 100 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, there was a second shooting at Masjid mosque in Linwood, where seven more were killed.
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.
Two of the others remain in police custody, with a fourth person arrested deemed not to have been involved in the attacks.
Of the 49 fatalities, 41 were killed at the Al Noor Mosque and seven at the Linwood Avenue mosque. Three were outside the mosque itself. A 49th died in hospital.
A further 48 people were rushed to Christchurch Hospital with gunshot wounds, 20 in a critical condition. A dozen operating theatres were opened, with many victims requiring multiple life-saving surgeries.
New Zealand Police have evacuated homes in Dunedin as they investigate a home 'of interest' to the shootings. The address is believed to be the home the gunman's car is registered to.
In New Zealand's worst ever terror attack and one of the worst mass-shootings ever:
- 49 people killed by at least one gunman at two separate mosques in Christchurch on Friday from 1.30pm
- The gunman at Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch - a 28-year-old Australian - live-streamed the mass shooting
- In a twisted manifesto, Tarrant wrote he targeted the mosques while training for another attack
- Four suspects - who were not known to counter-terror authorities - were being questioned in custody
- One of the men in his 'late 20s', whose identity has not been confirmed by police, was later charged with murder
- The Bangladesh cricket team were on their way to the Al Noor Mosque at the time of the shooting
- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday's terror attack was 'one of New Zealand's darkest days'
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