BREAKING: Christchurch mosque shootings: Police confirm one person is in custody, but there may be a second shooter https://t.co/2HdotbzTZO
— RNZ News (@rnz_news) March 15, 2019
From Radio New Zealand:
Police say one shooter is in custody but there may be other offenders after ‘multiple fatalities’ at two mosques in Christchurch today. Follow live updates here.
What you need to know:
- There have been two shooting incidents – at the Masjid Al Noor Mosque next to Hagley Park, and at the Linwood Masjid Mosque in the suburb of Linwood.
- Police Commissioner Mike Bush has confirmed there have been “multiple fatalities”.
- An eyewitness inside the Masjid Al Noor Mosque says he heard shots fired and says at least five people were lying on the ground.
- The eyewitness describes seeing a man wearing a helmet and glasses and a military style jacket opening fire inside the mosque with an automatic weapon.
- About 300 people were inside the mosque for afternoon prayers.
- Police say the “risk environment remains extremely high”.
- The manager of the An-Nur Early Childhood centre in Wigram said police gave some parents an update that said there were two gunmen and at least one was on the loose.
- People in central Christchurch have been urged to stay indoors and report any suspicious behaviour immediately to 111.
- All Christchurch schools, Christchurch Hospital and Christchurch City Council buildings have been placed into lockdown.
- Multiple roads in the city, including Blenhein Rd, Moorhouse Ave and Brougham St, have been closed.
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says today is one of New Zealand’s “darkest days”.
Radio New Zealand just posted the following:
Mosque shooting: Man posts videos and documents online https://t.co/lLJVCeYG4r
— RNZ News (@rnz_news) March 15, 2019
More from Radio New Zealand:
2 minutes ago
A man purporting to be at the centre of today’s attacks in Christchurch has posted video and documents online.
The videos are distressing and appear to be of the shooting in a mosque.
RNZ will not be publishing video or documents from a person who is believed to be a shooter at the Christchurch mosques.
RNZ is aware of footage of armed police appearing to apprehend a person. RNZ is also aware footage of the shooting is being posted online and a document circulating outlining the shooter’s motives is being shared.
A decision has been made to not publish in any of this material.
Live coverage of the shooting can be found here and a summary of what you need to know is here.
This is obviously going to be a fast moving event and the reporting is likely to change several times before it we have a clear(er) picture of exactly what happened and who perpetrated this attack.
Update at 11:45 PM EDT
New Zealand’s Prime Minister has made a statement (emphasis mine):
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, addressing the media about the Christchurch shooting, says there is “no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme violence”.
The PM said she couldn’t give any confirmation on fatalities at this stage, but “it is clear this one of New Zealand’s darkest days”.
“Presently the police do have one suspect in custody however there could be others involved. Also there are multiple scenes involved in this incident as well and police will be giving more details as they can as the situation unfolds,” she said,
About 300 people were inside a Christchurch mosque for afternoon prayers when a gunman attacked them.
An eyewitness said there was “blood everywhere”, adding that a man wearing a helmet and glasses and a military-style jacket opened fire inside the mosque with an automatic weapon.
Police say the “risk environment remains extremely high”.
At the moment police have stated that they have one offender in custody, however, they have advised that there may be other offenders.
“Clearly what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” Ms Ardern said.
“Many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting will be migrants, they will be refugees here. They have chosen to make New Zealand their home and it is their home. They are us.
“The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not. They have no place in New Zealand.
“There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence which it is clear this act was. “
She said her thoughts were also with those in Christchurch who were dealing with an unfolding situation.
“Please continue to listen out to information as it comes to light.
“Remain in lockdown, we are potentially dealing with an evolving situation as I said across multiple sites.
“Christchurch Hospital is dedicated to treating those who are arriving at the hospital as we speak.
She is scheduled to return to Wellington today.
People in central Christchurch have been urged to stay indoors and report any suspicious behaviour immediately to 111.
Updated at 11:55 PM EDT
Here’s video of Prime Minister Ardern making a statement regarding the attack on the two mosques (h/t Aleta in comments)
"This is one of New Zealand's darkest days… There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence."
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden speaks after Christchurch mass shooting – live updates: https://t.co/CLdzBLwimp pic.twitter.com/8Tdk8MBULp
— CNN International (@cnni) March 15, 2019
Updated at 12:05 PM EDT
The shooter posted a 75 page manifesto on 8Chan. He’s a white supremacist, so we can definitely call this an act of terrorism.
At more than 74 pages, the document outlines a white supremacist motivation for the attack. The writer, who identifies himself as a 28-year-old white man born in Australia, quotes the so-called 14 Words, the slogan shared by white supremacists worldwide. He said that while he supported white nationalist groups, he alone had decided to carry out the attack. He described the victims as “invaders” and accused them of seeking to replace white people. He wrote about attacking two mosques, one in Linwood and one in Christchurch. He focused on the latter because it was the largest, he wrote.
Interestingly enough, he was radicalized by Candace Owens, the Hitler afficionado who is the spokeswoman for TPUSA and the leader of Blexit (which isn’t actually a thing…). So congratulations to Candace Owens for inspiring your first terrorist attack. I’m sure you and your family are very proud of all your endeavors.
Newsweek reporter Stephen Asarch has excerpted the manifesto:
(I’ve removed the actual embedded tweets with the excerpts that Asarch made as they were upsetting some readers. They can be found at the link above.)
Open thread!
debbie
Wasn’t a man arrested in NZ for making threats a couple of days ago?
ETA: I think it was this: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/were-shaken-mps-across-political-spectrum-condemn-horrific-attack-james-shaw?variant=tb_v_1
Omnes Omnibus
Shit, I thought that NZ was one of the world’s safe spaces.
Royston Vasey
Holy heck!
One person has been arrested, but police believe there may be other offenders involved in the fatal shootings of at least nine people at two mosques in Christchurch.
Sources say nine people have been confirmed dead following the shootings at the Masjid Al Noor on Deans Ave and the Linwood Masjid on Linwood Ave.
I’m out of the way in Wellington, but this sort of shit just does NOT happen here.
RV in NZ
Royston Vasey
@Omnes Omnibus: It is! Every week we say to each other ‘at least all that shit in the world doesn’t happen here’
Wag
This news makes me feel a little less alone in the world. We aren’t the only country where this shit happens.
That realization also makes me incredibly sad
tobie
God damn. This is horrific.
SiubhanDuinne
I don’t even have words at this point.
So goddamned stupid and tragic.
Duane
Oh no no no.
Adam L Silverman
@Royston Vasey: Until it, unfortunately, does.
Viva BrisVegas
@Omnes Omnibus:
RWNJ’s are everywhere.
And they are feeling emboldened.
Trumpism is not contained by any border wall.
Adam L Silverman
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/384803/christchurch-mosque-shootings-one-of-nz-s-darkest-days-pm-jacinda-ardern
Wapiti
This coupled with the earlier bit from Trump to Breitbart is ugly. Trump apparently said, “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point and then it would be very bad, very bad.”
Seemly like a very direct trigger for some stochastic terrorism. If I were a first responder, I’d be very worried about tomorrow. Homeland Security should shift the alert status up at least one bar.
Jay
Reposted from below:
@trollhattan:
@Aleta:
@CaseyL:
@PaulWartenberg:
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yellow Vests Canada Exposed, documents how under the guise of being Pro-Oil, and Koch funded, Yellow Vests Canada radicalizes it’s members with a constant stream of Islamophobia, Racism and Death threats on Facebook.
Facebook refuses to censor or ban Yellow Vests Canada pages despite constant violation of Facebooks content rules.
They did ban the Yellow Vests Canada Exposed Facebook page.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Link?
Aleta
For ppl w/o cable, here’s 2 1/2 min of NZ PM Jacinda Ardern. It’s emotional and supportive of migrants and refugees who may be affected. “They have chosen to make NZ their home. And it is their home.”
Aleta
@Aleta: https://twitter.com/cnni/status/1106397370881732608
NZ PM Jacinda Ardern speaking
Royston Vasey
A horrific shooting at a Christchurch mosque was livestreamed for 17 minutes by the gunman.
The shooter identified himself as “Brenton Tarrant” – a white, 28-year-old Australian-born man.
The livestream began as the gunman drove to the Al Noor Mosque in Deans Ave, parking his car in a nearby driveway.
The beige stationwagon contains a cache of weapons and ammunition in the front passenger seat and boot, along with petrol canisters.
He then armed himself and walked into the mosque, with the first victim shot in the doorway.
The gunman was armed with at least one semi-automatic firearm and multiple ammunition clips. Messages in white writing were scrawled on the gun and ammunition.
Once inside he began shooting indiscriminately. A second victim tried to crawl for their life in the main hallway but was shot several more times.
People cowering in corners of a room were all shot as the gunman blocked the hallway, cutting off anyone’s attempt to escape.
The gunman stalked the mosque rooms firing repeatedly, stopping several times to re-load.
He then exited the mosque through the front door – after just under three minutes inside and headed into the street – firing random shots as cars drove past.
He returned to a beige Subaru stationwagon parked in a nearby driveway to get more ammunition from the boot.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: Here you go and I’ll put it up top:
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
Yellow Vest Canada Exposed is only on twitter any more:
https://mobile.twitter.com/vestscanada?lang=en
They work with Anti Racist Canada and other anti-racist groups to get the word out and track the Nazis.
https://mobile.twitter.com/vestscanada?lang=en
Mike in NC
@Viva BrisVegas: You got that right. Fascism is resurging all over this world.
Yutsano
Okay. Now the RNZ website is coming up. That’s just…horrific. And especially in a place that considers itself so open and welcoming.
wenchachs
This makes me so sad. Stop the hatred.
Annamal
Also Wellington based but our Christchurch office is still locked down (along with all the schools, universities, libraries etc).
Apparently Christchurch library is temporarily hosting a bunch of kids who had to be cleared out from the climate change protest.
The shooter appears to have been a qanon/8chan a-hole.
This is so very very wrong and so heart wrenching.
Adam L Silverman
Oh, goody, the perpetrator posted a 75 page manifesto on 8Chan.
SiubhanDuinne
@Royston Vasey:
Jesus. The story was awful enough already; that detail sent it into the realm of pure horror.
GregB
These are horrible times.
lurker dean
fuck. we have judge pirro, tucker, and ingraham spewing muslim and immigrant hate every night, videos of which i’m sure make it around the world. we have all sorts of white supremacist groups on different platforms online. the leader of the free world is a white supremacist. fuck.
Adam L Silverman
Candace Owens has now inspired her first terrorist attack. They grow up so fast…
tobie
I’m so sorry for all BJ’s New Zealand readers. I can’t imagine the hurt and the shock. There’s evidently a whole internet subculture I’ve been blissfully unaware of but whose tentacles spread far and wide. Until tonight, I never heard of 8chan or Candace Owens. I guess I’ve been playing ostrich.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I believe that’s what he was hoping, to terrorize those he doesn’t understand or like.
Adam L Silverman
https://www.buzzfeed.com/richardhjames/serious-firearms-incident-in-christchurch?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharecopy
Viva BrisVegas
@Royston Vasey:
This saddens but doesn’t surprise me.
The Murdoch press and their political lackeys in the government have been stoking anti-Islam feeling for the past decade.
With an election coming up in May they’ve gone into overdrive. I’m sad to say this was pretty much inevitable.
It’s just puzzling why he did his murdering in NZ. Maybe gun laws?
Oh, and we can expect clouds of confected butthurt if anybody so much as suggests the perpetrators of this deadly hate speech should tone it down a little.
Omnes Omnibus
The enslavement of millions of Europeans taken from their lands by Islamic slavers? The fuck?
Ruckus
It is a lovely fucking world we live in isn’t it?
I’m just about speechless. Hateful motherfuckers.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: The dodecahedron trade!
If these people weren’t so damned lethal when they finally go off, their stupidity and historical illiteracy would just be amusingly pathetic.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Turns out Andy Warhol was off by 2 minutes.
Adam L Silverman
@Viva BrisVegas: I’m sure Candace Owens is going to spend all day tomorrow driving nails into her palms completely oblivious to the fact that dozens of people were slaughtered for no reason except this idiot believed that she was speaking directly to him and telling him to become a terrorist to save the white race.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
If their hate had any basis in reality it would still be bullshit but the fact that it bares no resemblance to anything like reality is even more confounding and fucking idiotic. They have to make up shit to hate.
Annamal
Hey Adam Silverman, is there a way of conveying information about this utter b*stard that does not include chunks of his manifesto.
This evil little f&*( wanted it spread and at this point there is a request that we not carry water for him.
It doesn’t help that this is christchurch which already has an outsize number of people with ptsd from the 2011 quakes
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
She has seen a mirror hasn’t she? Her hate has no self awareness?
Patricia Kayden
@Adam L Silverman: And she’s threatening to sue anyone who points this out.
https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1106399208465158145
Idiot. No remorse.
Adam L Silverman
@Annamal: Well I’m not posting the whole thing. I’ve not posted his name or picture. And I didn’t post the video he shot of himself doing the attack. So I’m trying to strike the balance of posting just enough so we know why he did what he did and who inspired him without being gratuitous about it.
Mike J
Hey Adam, does the nutbag’s raving need to be so large on the front page?
Adam L Silverman
@Patricia Kayden: I guess I’m getting sued. I look forward to making her cry.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: It’s either this or pictures of him in a bikini in his bathroom using his toilet as a side table.
chris
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111313938/live-coverage-police-attending-evolving-situation-in-christchurch
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: More seriously, I took care of it for you.
MobiusKlein
Does facebook (spit) have a way to report, detect, and extirpate live death videos like this? It is appalling that it is so easy to ..
Debbie(Aussie)
The ‘white lands’ bit gets me. Hey stupid, NZ & Australia are NOT white lands. As Adam said, up thread, if it wasn’t for the horrible slaughter the stupidity would be funny.
I’m so sorry Christchurch, NZ. Be strong. I know our current government would not be looking in this direction, ‘only brown people can be terrorists’. I am so angry ?
Thanks for this post Adam.
West of the Rockies
Oh, that Candace Owens…
The forces of fear and rage appear contagious. And if someone can make a buck or two selling them with a pretty face, I guess it’s impolite to say so.
Fuck the shooters. Fuck the idiots who inspire such actions.
Jay
@MobiusKlein:
Report, yes,
Detect, no,
Remove, sometimes.
Facebook subcontracts their “moderation” to $15 dollar an hour subcontracts, suffering from PSTD, who often themselves, become radicalized through exposure.
Facebook does have automated ways to instaban or block pages critical of Facebook,
And classical nude paintings,
And people critical of Wipepo, and men,
MobiusKlein
At work, lunch, we were talking about all the stupidity of our respective home countries.
Brexit,
Trump,
That guy in Brazil,
China,
India Pakistan near war
But we took solace that New Zealand was sane.
Fuck.
Duane
@Adam L Silverman: Let me add my name to the list of people Candace Owen can sue. Also people whose ass she can kiss. Owen has helped inspire a terrorist attack. Charlie Kirk, her diaper baby idiot can do likewise. Rick Roberts too. He spew inflammatory anti-Muslim hate at WBAP radio in Dallas everyday.
Adam L Silverman
@Debbie(Aussie): You’re welcome, but I am sorry it was necessary to do it.
Jay
@MobiusKlein:
The virus went viral in the early ‘aughts.
Social media Corporations are loath to police the infection, because it’s highly profitable.
Adam L Silverman
For those concerned, like @Annamal: and @Mike J: I’ve removed the large screen grabs of the excerpts Asarch made, as well as his tweets that included smaller screen grabs of them. I’ve left the link up to his Twitter thread for those that want to click across and see them.
Adam L Silverman
I’m to bed.
Debbie(Aussie)
@Adam L Silverman: I know.
brisket
It’s hitting people hard here. We’ve always assumed we were better than that. Where does this kind of psychopath, who shoots children, who shoots fleeing people in the back, come from? For a few hours there it looked like we could blame Australia, but apparently not, he’s been here for years. (Though no one born here, not even the whitest of RWNJs, would be idiotic enough to call this “White lands”.)
My first reaction is to blame the Internet. This kind of contagious global insanity. There’s no real tension between the Muslim community and anyone else here. We’ve never had jihadi attacks. Muslims are a small and peaceful minority. No New Zealander would ever have the slightest reason to hate Muslims unless they’d been drawn into the absurd online bubbles of white supremacy. It’s imported lunacy.
It’s hard to overstate how upset people are about this. It will be a wake-up call. Hopefully people will start thinking more carefully about who they’re listening to.
Debbie(Aussie)
@brisket:
I’m so sorry. I can’t think of anything else to say (((hugs))). Know we are think of you all.
Jay
@brisket:
Hopefully, some Governments will start to regulate and punish social media companies.
brisket
Thanks. I just heard a radio interview with our Foreign Minister/Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters. He’s known for his anti-immigration and generally curmudgeonly stance. His political party is called NZ First, for Christ’s sake. The voice of mainstream nationalism.
He was clearly shaken. Normally verbose and jocular, he was struggling for words. Not a trace of anything except genuine shock and distress. I’ve been hearing him on TV and radio all my life, and I have never heard him so quiet and serious.
It’s comforting in a way. This will not be normalised.
seaboogie
@Royston Vasey: “This sort of thing does not happen here” is a familiar refrain, especially on the evening news.
Yes, even if you don’t live in a neighborhood rife with violence, these things do happen – just maybe your first experience of it. Just passed the anniversary of the assault and armed robbery of the jewelry shop in which I continue to work in a charming and beloved CA wine country town. Now – when we buzz people into our always locked establishment, folks who don’t know what happened are all “you have to do this in Sonoma!?”. We usually just tell them that our insurance company requires it, without elaborating.
And earlier this week a colleague tip-toed around PTSD counseling questions with me (I was the robbery victim), because her husband had witnessed a murder (estranged husband kills wife) the day before.
So yes – this violence occurs everywhere, all of the time. And I’m a big fan of gun control, given basic human nature. And that’s not even addressing white men who feel marginalized and become domestic political terrorists. As opposed to just your garden variety domestic (non-political) bringers of terror, death and destruction, because maybe their wife doesn’t want to be married to them anymore.
Jay
@brisket:
Sometimes, current events shove into a politicians face the brutal toxicity of what they have been selling for decades,
Most get over it.
A few change.
AnotherBruce
@brisket: This violence hardens hearts. And hate can be a contagious fever, that can burn the world. Decent people need to shut this shit down, and fast.
sharl
In response to a tweet that excerpted the bit on Candace Owens, J.J. Macnab said “Sarcasm”.
I dunno. I’ve seen enough of right-wing grifter Owens on my TL to be aware of the kind of stupid shit she’s capable of saying. On the other hand, it would be in keeping with an 8-chan (or 4-chan) edgelord – typically white, typically racist – to pin the blame on a black woman. Y’know, as a “joke”. That’s how they roll.
Anyhoo, more will dribble out over time I’m sure, and some semblance of the truth will likely coalesce from the dark foul goo.
Jay
@sharl:
“On the other hand, it would be in keeping with an 8-chan (or 4-chan) edgelord – typically white, typically racist – to pin the blame on a black woman. Y’know, as a “joke”. That’s how they roll.”
Yeah, no. She’s a special kind of toxic.
rikyrah
????
Ruckus
@sharl:
One might think so but go ahead and google her.
Cat has been out of the bag for a while. She either has very, very poor taste in friends or she’s been in it deep for more than a couple of days.
JJ MacNab was talking about the shooter”s remarks, not Owens.
Annamal
@Adam L Silverman: thank you, I wish the nz media had your restraint.
sharl
Owens is certainly toxic. But if you wanna just dismiss the possibility that she’s getting pranked, I’m sure the killer (and presumably author of the manifesto) would be happy for that extra bit of success in getting someone to buy into his jollies (assuming that’s what this is). As I said, I dunno, but this kind of “joke” would not be at all surprising from this lot.
I trust MacNab on something like this, though it will likely be awhile before she goes beyond what (so far) is speculation.
sharl
YES, this is the point I’ve been trying to make. She travels with that lot, so she largely deserves whatever shit comes her way from this. I’ll certainly not feel sorry for her. I just ain’t gonna believe the explanation from a stone-cold racist killer as to his/their motivations. Among a list of all their flaws, a lack of good-faith discourse is always there somewhere.
Annamal
@brisket: I’m hoping that this will at least get the promised refugee quota increase through (one thing about winston, he can read the mood of the crowd). I’ve just donated to Shakti since it seems like a good outlet and something concrete to do.
Jay
@sharl:
In Canada a bunch of the former Nazi’s In Remission and Making Atonement have testified that the JDL and Bannergee greased their skids into Nazidom.
After all, if winger Jews and POC Nazi’s were saying it, it must be “more” than just Naziism.
As a result, a bunch of them were “red pilled” by fringer minorities, then dove much deeper into the hole.
As another example, Jordan Peterson’s position as a UoT Professor, is “red pilling” a lot of people.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: the proper response to that threat is, “Bring it on, fat boy!”
I use that line all the time.
Ruckus
@sharl:
OK misunderstood.
A wise move, not believing assholes. However this one seems to be carrying out his beliefs, so while skepticism may be in order, he really doesn’t seem to me to be trying to fool anyone or put anyone on. Now he may look at this woman with distain, considering her skin color but their “beliefs” are differing mostly in degree with which they are willing to prove them.
Mnemosyne
@sharl:
Owens could easily have avoided the shitstorm by tweeting even the most rote and banal “thoughts and prayers” kind of statement. She chose to claim that she was the real victim instead.
So if the murderer was pranking Owens wth that statement, she reacted exactly the way he expected.
sharl
@Jay: I hope investigators have acquired whatever history they can – online or otherwise – of these former Nazis. Those “fringey minorities” are always out there, if you look hard and long enough, but at what point along the Road to Nazism were they discovered? Up to the time of that discovery, how strong were these Nazis’ motivations to find confirmation of their biases and validation of their viewpoints? If they were already predisposed to blame the world for their woes – problems finding work, problems at work, no woman willing to have sex with them, whatever – who is guiding them in assigning a culpable race/religion/culture as the cause of their woes? Was the genesis of this predisposition in their childhood home, or from friends made later?
This stuff is ugly and messy. But I don’t trust anyone who blames fringey people of other races/religions/etc. for their own psychological dysfunction; it’s a type of racism to say “well, this black/Jewish/Muslim/gay/etc. person says his/her group is effed up this way…MUST BE TRUE!” Why does one believe them, unless one is already predisposed to believe what they’re saying? Why do the Nazi types reject people from those same groups who are saying something quite the opposite?
We’ll see what comes from further investigation, which may take a while, but even a dumb white dude like me knows better than to take the word of a white islamophobic racist who says ‘hey, the black chick made me do it!’ I hope this all makes Candace Owens crawl permanently into a hole and pull the cover over her, though I sadly think it will just make the media clamor more for her (Glory to the Grift!). But the killer(s) need to own this.
sharl
@Mnemosyne: Yep. There’s plenty of evidence that Owens is not all that bright, and playing into the hands of others seems to be the life she’s chosen.
Origuy
@Omnes Omnibus: There were expeditions by slavers from North Africa that got as far as England and Iceland. I doubt the numbers were in the millions, though. Not nearly as many as Muslims from East Africa taken by Christian slave ships to the Americas.
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
I went over to the Fox News webpage just to see what their take was, and I wasn’t surprised to see ‘terrorist’ in quotes.
Fox
CNN
BBC
Of the news sites I browsed, only Fox used the word terrorist in that manner. All the others used headlines similar to the BBC’s or CNN’s.
Maybe I’m seeing smoke and there’s no fire, but it sure seems to me as if Fox is implicitly denying that White Supremacists can be terrorists.
NotMax
@ Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
And tomorrow they’ll “accidentally” place a (D) after this name. //
Royston Vasey
At the Deans Avenue mosque, we now know that 41 people have lost their lives. And at the Linwood mosque, 7 have lost their lives. Of the 40 people who have been treated at Christchurch Hospital, one has now passed. So the total number of people who have died in this horrendous event are 49.
So far one person, a male in his late 20s, has been charged with murder, and should appear in the Christchurch Court tomorrow morning.
Three other people were apprehended. We believe one of those persons who was armed and was at the scene may have had nothing to do with this incident, and the two other people that have been apprehended, again in possession of firearms in the general environment, we are working through to understand what their involvement is.
Police have recovered a number of firearms from both of the scenes, Linwood Avenue and Deans Avenue.
Elizabelle
@Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): Not surprising from Fox “News”.
@Royston Vasey: What a horror for New Zealand. I hope it wakes up more of the glib than just your politician Winston. Hope it will get US right wingers to shut their pieholes for a while with the anti-Muslim rhetoric. They also own this.
John S.
@Elizabelle:
Right-wingers never shut up. They never take responsibility. They’re already canvassing the internet declaring this a false flag, leftist operation meant to make them look bad.
Sloane Ranger
@Omnes Omnibus: Thread is probably dead but thought I’d reply just in case. Yes, for several centuries, white people were taken as slaves by Muslims. Most of this consisted of POW’s during various crusades/wars or involved raids usually confined to the Mediterranean (Although there are records of Berber pirates raiding England’s South coast and taking people away as slaves as late as Elizabethan times). The total numbers of people taken may have reached a million but almost certainly not many millions. This practice had mostly ended by the late 18th century.
Also, why is historical Muslim enslavement of whites a reason for murdering Muslims today, but black people who complain about being enslaved by whites told to shut up and get over it, probably by the same type of people?
PaulWartenberg
My first thought upon hearing what was happening in New Zealand was “the right wing bullshit is global”.
It terrifies me that here in the U.S. we’ve completely forgotten that our worst terror attack before 9/11 was the SOB (and his friends, so FUCK the Lone Wolf myth) who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, living out his Turner Diaries fantasies. And that our biggest threats today are the SOBs who wanna follow in his footsteps.
sharl
schrodingers_cat
@sharl: WTF, why parse his words when his actions are crystal clear.
BroD
Christchurch, goddamn.