CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — At least 49 people were killed in mass shootings at two mosques full of worshippers attending Friday prayers on what the prime minister called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

One man was arrested and charged with murder in what appeared to be a carefully planned racist attack. Police also defused explosive devices in a car.

Two other armed suspects were being held in custody. Police said they were trying to determine how they might be involved.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the events in Christchurch represented "an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence," and that many of the victims could be migrants or refugees.

"It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack," Ardern said.

In addition to the dead, health officials said 48 people were being treated at Christchurch Hospital for gunshot wounds. Injuries ranged from minor to critical.

Police took three men and a woman into custody after the shootings, which shocked people across the nation of 5 million people. Police later said one of the arrests didn't relate to the shootings.

While there was no reason to believe there were any more suspects, Ardern said the national security threat level was being raised from low to high, the second-highest level.

National carrier Air New Zealand canceled at least 17 flights in and out of Christchurch, saying it couldn't properly screen customers and their baggage following the shootings.

Police said the investigation had extended 360 kilometers (240 miles) to the south, where homes in Dunedin were evacuated around a "location of interest." A police statement gave no further detail of how it might be linked to the attacks.

Authorities have not specified who they detained, but said none had been on any watch list. A man who claimed responsibility for the shootings left a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto in which he explained who he was and his reasoning for the attack. He said he was a 28-year-old white Australian and a racist.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that one of the people detained was an Australian-born citizen.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said Friday night that a man had been charged with murder. He did not say whether police believed the same shooter was responsible for both attacks.

Ardern alluded at a news conference to anti-immigrant sentiment as the possible motive, saying that while many people affected by the shootings may be migrants or refugees, "they have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us."

As for the suspects, Ardern said, "these are people who I would describe as having extremist views that have absolutely no place in New Zealand."

Bush said police had found two improvised explosive devices in one car, a clarification from an earlier statement that there were devices in multiple vehicles. He said they had disabled one and were in the process of disabling the second.

The deadliest attack occurred at the Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch at about 1:45 p.m., when 41 people were killed.

Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror.

Peneha, who lives next door to the mosque, said the gunman ran out of the mosque, dropped what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon in his driveway, and fled. He said he then went into the mosque to try to help.

"I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque," he said. "I don't understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It's ridiculous."

He said he helped about five people recover in his home. He said one was slightly injured.

"I've lived next door to this mosque for about five years and the people are great, they're very friendly," he said. "I just don't understand it."

He said the gunman was white and was wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top, giving him a military-type appearance.

A video that was apparently livestreamed by the shooter shows the attack in horrifying detail. The gunman spends more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying terrified worshippers with bullets again and again, sometimes re-firing at people he has already cut down.

He then walks outside to the street, where he shoots at people on the sidewalk. Children's screams can be heard in the distance as he returns to his car to get another rifle.

The gunman then walks back into the mosque, where there are at least two dozen people lying on the ground. After walking back outside and shooting a woman there, he gets back in his car, where the song "Fire" by English rock band "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown" can be heard blasting from the speakers. The singer bellows, "I am the god of hellfire!" and the gunman drives away. The video then cuts out.

During a second shooting at the Linwood mosque about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Al Noor mosque, seven people were killed.

One more person died later at Christchurch Hospital.

Mark Nichols told the New Zealand Herald he heard about five gunshots and that a Friday prayer-goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.

Nichols said he saw two injured people being carried out on stretchers past his automotive shop and that both people appeared to be alive.

The police commissioner warned anybody who was thinking of going to a mosque anywhere in New Zealand on Friday to stay put.

The man who claimed responsibility for the shooting said he came to New Zealand only to plan and train for the attack. He said he was not a member of any organization, but had donated to and interacted with many nationalist groups, though he acted alone and no group ordered the attack.

He said the mosques in Christchurch and Linwood would be the targets, as would a third mosque in the town of Ashburton if he could make it there.

He said he chose New Zealand because of its location, to show that even the most remote parts of the world were not free of "mass immigration."

New Zealand is generally considered to be a welcoming country for migrants and refugees. Last year, the prime minister announced the country would boost its annual refugee quota from 1,000 to 1,500 starting in 2020. Ardern, whose party campaigned on the promise of raising the intake of refugees, called the planned increase "the right thing to do."

David Meates, the chief executive of the Canterbury District Health Board, said 12 operating theaters were being used at Christchurch Hospital to treat the injured and that some patients would need multiple surgeries. He said about 200 family members were at the hospital awaiting news of their loved ones.

Home to nearly 400,000 people, Christchurch is the largest city on New Zealand's South Island. Sometimes called the garden city, it has been rebuilding since an earthquake in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed many downtown buildings.

A cricket match between New Zealand and Bangladesh scheduled to start Saturday was canceled after the Bangladesh cricket team had a narrow escape.

Players and members of the team's coaching staff were reportedly on their bus, approaching the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Hagley Park when the shooting broke out.

Batsman Tamim Iqbal tweeted "entire team got saved from active shooters. Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers."

Mass shootings in New Zealand are rare. Before Friday's attack, the deadliest shooting in modern history occurred in the small town of Aramoana in 1990, when gunman David Gray shot and killed 13 people following a dispute with a neighbor.

By NICK PERRY and MARK BAKER Associated Press

Perry reported from Wellington. Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Chris Blake in Bangkok contributed to this report. </s> New Zealand’s Cabinet has backed changes to gun laws in the country just three days after 50 people were killed in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.

Police have also confirmed they believe “absolutely” that only one perpetrator was responsible for the attacks during Friday prayers.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, has been charged with murder and appeared at court on Saturday. He was remanded until April 5.

On Monday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the Cabinet had made “in principle” decisions about gun law reform, with further details to be announced by next Monday.

“This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our communities safer,” she said.

Ms Ardern said the Cabinet was “absolutely unified”, and said the shootings had “exposed a range of weaknesses” in New Zealand’s gun laws.

She added that there would be an inquiry into the events leading up to the attacks.

It also emerged that the alleged perpetrator bought four weapons online from a gun store in Christchurch.

David Tipple, owner of Gun City, said the alleged gunman bought four “A category” firearms and ammunition through a “police-verified online mail order process”.

Mr Tipple told reporters: “I returned from Europe on Saturday and immediately searched all our purchase records and found the alleged gunman’s purchases. I provided the police with full details of the sales.

“We detected nothing extraordinary about this licence holder.”

He added: “The MSSA (military-style semi-automatic) reportedly used by the alleged gunman was not purchased from Gun City.”

Mr Tipple said he and his staff were “devastated” by the shootings, adding: “We can’t comprehend how such despicable actions could be carried out on those in prayer in their place of worship.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said police were confident a lone attacker was responsible for the shootings.

“We believe absolutely there was only one attacker responsible for this,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean there weren’t possibly people in support and that is to form an important part of our investigation.”

On Monday morning, two homes in New South Wales, Australia, were raided by police in connection with the mosque attacks.

Officers from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team executed a search warrant at a home in the town of Sandy Beach, near Coffs Harbour, 330 miles north of Sydney, at 8.30am (9.30pm Sunday GMT).

A short time later, a second warrant was executed at a home further north in Lawrence, near MacLean.

New South Wales Police said: “The primary aim of the activity is to formally obtain material that may assist New Zealand Police in their ongoing investigation.”

“The family of the Australian man arrested in Christchurch continues to assist police with their inquiries.”

Thirty-one people remain in Christchurch Hospital after the mass shootings, nine of them in intensive care.

A four-year-old girl is in a critical condition in Starship Hospital in Auckland, while her father is in the same hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Tarrant appeared to have live-streamed the terror attack and outlined his anti-immigrant motives in a manifesto posted online.

On Sunday, Ms Ardern said her office was one of more than 30 recipients of an emailed copy of the manifesto just nine minutes before guns were fired.

Facebook said it had removed 1.5 million videos of the attack worldwide in the 24 hours after the shootings, 1.2 million of which were blocked at upload.

Of those killed in the massacre, 42 died at the Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue in central Christchurch, seven were killed at the suburban Linwood Masjid Mosque, and one person died at Christchurch Hospital.

In the video live-streamed by Tarrant, a man inside a mosque appears to say: “Welcome brother”, as a gunman approaches.

A number of improvised explosive devices found on a vehicle after the shootings were defused by police.

British security sources said there were no apparent UK links to the attack. </s> • Three suspects were apprehended in the case of the New Zealand mosque shooting on Friday.
• One suspect is a man in his late twenties who was charged with murder, and will appear in court on Saturday.

Police in New Zealand have arrested three suspects over the fatal shooting of at least 49 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

Here is what we know about them:
• One is a 28-year-old man, who has been charged with murder. He is due in court on Saturday.
• Two others have been arrested. Police say they were both found with firearms near the scene of the shootings.
• One suspect appears to have video recorded the entire massacre with some form of body or helmet camera.
• One of the suspects is Australian.
• None of the suspects were known to police or security forces beforehand.
• Police would not confirm whether the man charged with murder is Brenton Tarrant, an Australian. A manifesto claiming responsibility was published on his Twitter account.
• Police arrested a fourth person, but later said the arrest was "not related" to the shootings.

New Zealand Police said on Twitter a 28-year old man has been charged with murder, and will appear in a Christchurch court on Saturday morning.

An image of a man in a video made of the shootings. Live4

When asked at a press conference if the man charged was Tarrant, Police Commissioner Mike Bush replied, "I know there is a name within the public domain but it would be improper for me to confirm that."

An anti-immigrant manifesto claiming responsibility was posted on Tarrant's Twitter account ahead of the attack, the commissioner said.

The cover of the racist manifesto published prior to the shootings. "The Great Replacement"

Tarrant's Twitter account has now been suspended. So has his Facebook page. But in the 74-page document, the author said the attack was meant to "create an atmosphere of fear" and "incite violence" against Muslims, The Guardian reported.

Tarrant's former coworker Tracey Gray told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he was a personal trainer in Australia. He is known to have travelled in Europe, Southeast Asia and East Asia, including to North Korea, she said.

"I honestly can't believe that somebody I have probably had daily dealings with and had shared conversations and interacted with would be capable of something to this extreme," she told ABC. </s> Forty-nine people have been killed in shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

The country's police commissioner Mike Bush confirmed the total, while prime minister Jacinda Ardern earlier said at least 20 others had been seriously injured.

Ardern described it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days" and said the events in the city of Christchurch represented "an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence".

Ms Ardern at her news conference alluded to anti-immigrant sentiment as the possible motive, saying that while many people affected by the shootings may be migrants or refugees "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".

Three men and one woman were taken into custody, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

He said police had defused a number of improvised explosive devices found on vehicles after the shootings.

A man who claimed responsibility for the shootings left a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto in which he explained who he was and his reasoning for his actions.

He said he considered it a terrorist attack.

"It's a very serious and grave situation," Mr Bush said.

Anybody who was thinking of going to a mosque anywhere in New Zealand on Friday should stay put, he added.

The deadly shooting occurred at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch at about 1.45pm local time.

Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the mosque and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror.

Mr Peneha, who lives next door to the mosque, said the gunman ran out of the mosque, dropped what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon in his drive, and fled.

Mr Peneha said he then went into the mosque to try to help.

"I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque," he said.

"I don't understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It's ridiculous."

He said he helped about five people recover in his home. He said one was slightly injured.

"I've lived next door to this mosque for about five years and the people are great, they're very friendly," he said. "I just don't understand it."

He said the gunman was white and was wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top, giving him a military-type appearance.

Police said there was a second shooting at the Linwood Masjid Mosque.

Mark Nichols told the New Zealand Herald he heard about five gunshots and that a Friday prayer-goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.

Mr Nichols said he saw two injured people being carried out on stretchers past his automotive shop and that both people appeared to be alive.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the UK "stands with" New Zealand after multiple people were killed in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.

He tweeted: "Our hearts go out to the people of New Zealand following the news of this terrible act in Christchurch. NZ is one of the most peaceful, peace-loving and generous nations in the world. Your friends in the UK stand with you today in deepest sympathy."

New Zealand Police tweeted: "In response to a serious ongoing firearms incident in Christchurch all Christchurch schools have been placed into lockdown." </s> WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Police Commissioner Mike Bush says a man is charged with murder in New Zealand attacks and will appear in court Saturday. </s> Wellington: The man accused of shooting dead 51 people in Christchurch mosque attacks, has been charged with terrorism, New Zealand police said on Tuesday. Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with "engaging in a terrorist act" under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. In addition, he faces 51 charges of murder and 40 of the attempted murder, reported Xinhua.

AFP news agency quoting New Zealand police: Christchurch attacker charged with terrorism. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/GUwONILnDq — ANI (@ANI) May 21, 2019

The charge will allege that a terrorist act was carried out in Christchurch on March 15. Police said that the decision to lay the terror charge was made after consultation with the Crown Law Office and the Christchurch Crown Solicitors office. Shortly after the development, New Zealand police met with the survivors and families of the victims to inform them of the new charges filed against the gunman and update them on the ongoing investigation and the court process that would follow.

White supremacist Brenton Tarrant accused of killing 51 people in the Christchurch mosques attack has been charged with terrorism, New Zealand police have said. https://t.co/U186ME6MY0 — Kevin Shakir (@kevinshakir) May 21, 2019

Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant facing new charges | ABC News https://t.co/up4EQeChXJ pic.twitter.com/Q5SBNGXzjP — Matthew Jarvis ðð» (@itsmattjarvis) May 21, 2019

"New Zealand police are committed to providing all the support necessary for what will be a challenging and emotional court process to come for the victims' families and survivors of the attack," said New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush. On March 15, Brenton, a suspected white supremacist from Australia, stormed into two mosques during congregational prayers and indiscriminately opened fire on the assembled. The act of terrorism left the entire Muslim community shaken, with the international community and locals showing their solidarity with the affected.

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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies </s> New Zealand police have charged the man accused of murder in shootings at two Christchurch mosques in March with engaging in a terrorist act, they said on Tuesday.

In an attack broadcast live on Facebook, a lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons targeted Muslims attending Friday prayers, killing 51 worshippers and wounding dozens of people.

Police said that charge under terrorism suppression legislation was filed against Brenton Tarrant on Tuesday.

“The charge will allege that a terrorist act was carried out in Christchurch on 15 March 2019,” Commissioner of Police Mike Bush said in a statement.

An additional charge of murder and two more charges of attempted murder have also been filed against Tarrant so that the suspected white supremacist faces a total of 51 charges of murder and 40 of attempted murder.

Tarrant’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Tarrant is next due to appear in court on June 14, after being remanded in custody in April and ordered to undergo psychiatric assessment to determine if he was fit to stand trial.

Police notified about the additional charges to roughly 200 family members of attack victims and survivors at a meeting on Tuesday, the statement added. </s> CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Many people were killed in a mass shooting at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday, a witness said.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said following the fatal shootings it is "one of New Zealand's darkest days."New Zealand police said three men and one woman have been taken into custody.Police say they're not aware of other suspects beyond the four who have been arrested. Police Commissioner Mike Bush did not elaborate on the suspects who are in custody.Police also say they've defused a number of improvised explosive devices found on vehicles after mosque shootings.There is a police presence at a number of scenes, they said.And while police said the incident was "evolving" and "we are working to confirm the facts," they said they can confirm "there have been a number of fatalities."Ardern said at a Friday afternoon news conference, "what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence."She said while many people affected may be migrants or refugees "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."Police have not yet described the scale of the shooting but urged people in central Christchurch to stay indoors.And New Zealand media reported a shooting at a second mosque in a Christchurch suburb.Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch at about 1:45 p.m. and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror.Peneha, who lives next door to the mosque, said the gunman ran out of the mosque, dropped what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon in Peneha's driveway, and fled.Peneha said he then went into the mosque to try and help."I saw dead people everywhere. There were three in the hallway, at the door leading into the mosque, and people inside the mosque," he said. "It's unbelievable nutty. I don't understand how anyone could do this to these people, to anyone. It's ridiculous."He said he helped about five people recover in his home. He said one was slightly injured."I've lived next door to this mosque for about five years and the people are great, they're very friendly," he said. "I just don't understand it."He said the gunman was white and was wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top, giving him a military-type appearance.The New Zealand Herald reported there was a second shooting at the Linwood Masjid Mosque.Mark Nichols told the Herald he heard about five gunshots and that a Friday prayer goer returned fire with a rifle or shotgun. Nichols said he saw two injured people being carried out on stretchers past his automotive shop and that both people appeared to be alive.New Zealand historically has had only a handful of mass shootings events. </s> WELLINGTON - New Zealand police said on Tuesday they were charging the man accused of murder in shootings at two Christchurch mosques in March with engaging in a terrorist act.

The charge, which came under the country’s terrorism suppression legislation, was filed against Brenton Tarrant, police said in a statement.

The man, a suspected white supremacist, faces 51 charges of murder and 40 of attempted murder. He is next due to appear in court in June.
Four people—three men and one woman—are arrested in connection to the shootings, according to New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush. It is later learned that one of them was an armed citizen trying to help police and was released.