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Death toll rises to 50 as New Zealand mourns victims
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, March 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – New Zealanders
flocked to memorial sites to lay flowers and mourn the victims of the twin
mosque massacres Sunday, as testimony emerged of epic heroism and harrowing
suffering in the gun attack that has claimed 50 lives.
Police Commissioner Mike Bush said officers had finally been able to share
a list of victims with families, something delayed by the need for careful
police work and the sheer scale of the tragedy.
For almost three days forensics teams, many flown in from across New
Zealand, have been working through multiple crime scenes — at the Al Noor
and Linwood mosques as well as a house in Dunedin, the southeastern city
where the suspected gunman, Brenton Tarrant, lived.
Bodies of those gunned down by the white supremacist had remained inside
the mosque awaiting autopsies and identification by increasingly distraught
family members desperate to begin Muslim burial rites.
Already, excavators have begun work in a city graveyard to remove the vast
amount of earth needed to bury so many dead.
Once identification is complete the names will be made public, Bush said.
But already, the stories of victims from across the Muslim world came into
focus.
New Zealand authorities said 34 people remain in hospital, being treated
for injuries that Doctor Greg Robertson described ranging from severe,
complex gunshot wounds to “relatively superficial soft tissue injuries”.
Among those fighting for their lives is four-year-old Alin Alsati. The pre-
schooler was praying alongside her father Waseeim at the Al Noor mosque when
she was shot at least three times.
She has been airlifted to Starship children’s hospital in Auckland, the
country’s top paediatric centre.
Her father, who was also shot, recently emigrated to New Zealand from
Jordan and had just set up a barbershop — Wass Barber — in the suburb of
Richmond.
“Please pray for me and my daughter,” he pleaded in a Facebook video
message from his hospital bed before receiving surgery to get shrapnel and
bone out of his hip socket.
Amid the sadness, there have also been tales of heroes such as Alabi Lateef
and a fellow worshipper, who followed the 28-year-old Australian gunman to
his car and used a discarded rifle to smash the vehicle’s back window.
The pair’s actions may have helped saved further casualties, as Tarrant was
apprehended by two armed police officers soon after.
Daoud Nabi an Afghan man thought to be in his 60s or 70s, reportedly ran
into the line of fire to save fellow worshippers at the Al Noor mosque and
died shielding someone else from a bullet.
“He jumped in the firing line to save somebody else’s life and he has
passed away,” his son Omar told AFP. – Get together –
Around Christchurch, New Zealand and the world there have been vigils,
prayers, memorials and messages of solidarity.
“We stand together with our Muslim brothers & sisters” were the words on a
large-red banner above a sea of flowers at one of the sites in what one
resident dubbed the “city of sorrow”.
At Christchurch’s “Cardboard Cathedral” — built after the 2011 earthquakes
that still scar this close-knit city — Dean Lawrence Kimberley held a
service to stand “in solidarity with the Muslim community.”
“We learned during the earthquakes that in times of trial it is good to
reach out to each other. It is time to do this again,” he told the
congregation.
In Auckland, tearful residents of all ethnicities stood arm-in-arm outside
the Umar Mosque to pay their respects.
Across the Tasmin Sea, Australians shocked that such an atrocity in their
sister nation could be perpetrated by one of their own, vowed to provide any
help they can.
In Sydney, a silver fern — the symbol of New Zealand — was projected onto
the side of the world famous Opera House. – ‘Very bad day’ –
On Saturday, Tarrant appeared in a Christchurch court to face the first of
what is expected to be a host of murder charges.
Flanked by armed police, the former personal fitness trainer gestured an
upside-down “okay” — a symbol used by white power groups worldwide.
He did not request bail and was remanded in custody until an April 5 court
appearance.
Another man arrested on Friday will appear in court on Monday on charges
that are “tangential” to the attacks, though he was not believed to be
involved in the shootings, police told reporters Sunday.
The mosque attacks have shaken this usually peaceful country, which prides
itself on welcoming refugees fleeing violence or persecution.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to change the country’s gun laws
and to uncover how a noted extremist legally purchased two semi-automatic
weapons, reportedly AR-15s, two shotguns and a lever-action gun without
drawing the attention of the authorities.
The suspect documented his radicalisation and two years of preparations in
a lengthy, meandering and conspiracy-filled far-right “manifesto”.
And it has emerged that multiple warning signs were there, from a former
soldier who raised concerns about extremism at Tarrant’s gun club in Dunedin
to warning emails sent to the prime minister’s office that were not seen
until after the attack.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0852 hrs