Four people are in custody in the wake of mass shootings that killed 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush delivered the updated fatality figures Friday, after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the event as “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence” that has “no place in New Zealand.”
Police said bombs had been found strapped to vehicles authorities had stopped, which had been defused.
Bush said police had arrested three men and one woman. Officials said overnight that one man in his late 20s had been charged with murder, and that two explosive devices were found attached to a vehicle that they had stopped.
Bush also said there was no reason to assume that there was any threat outside Christchurch.
Shots were reported at about 1:40 p.m. local time in the city of about 375,000 on the country’s east coast.
“I was in the mosque. It’s a big mosque and there were more than 200 people inside. The gunmen came from the backside. Gunshots went on for a long time. We had to jump the wall to escape. I saw lots of broken glass and bricks on the backside of the mosque,” witness Mohan Ibn Ibrahim told CNN.
Much of the city was on lockdown as police responded to the situation, and police told mosques across the country to close their doors. The lockdown was lifted at about 5:30 p.m. local time.
4/5 …residents to stay inside. We ask all mosques nationally to shut their doors, and advise that people refrain from visiting these premises until further notice.
— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 15, 2019
The gunman appeared to livestream the attack and is believed to have posted a more than 70-page manifesto that advocated for white nationalism, according to reports.
“Police are aware there is extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online,” the New Zealand Police said in a tweet. Police are working to have the video taken down.
The graphic and disturbing video apparently showing the attack depicts the gunman traveling to and arriving at the mosque, taking out weapons, and firing at people both inside and outside the building before leaving the scene.
The lengthy video was shared on Facebook, while a Twitter account under the same name had shared photos of weapons and links to the manifesto Friday.
In the manifesto, the author claims to be a 28-year-old Australian from a working-class family, and espouses anti-immigrant and racist sentiments in the more than 16,000-word screed.
The author includes the white supremacist slogan known as the “14 words,” refers to nonwhite immigrants as “invaders,” and claims his views most closely align with those of Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists, as well as advocates violence in support of racist nationalism.
The prime minister said many of the victims and others affected by the shooting could be migrants to the country.
“They may even be refugees here. They have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us,” she said.
Allison Elyse Gualtieri and Jerry Dunleavy contributed to this report.
