(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — New Zealand police have filed a terrorism charge against the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques.

Police say they have charged 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant with engaging in a terrorist act after the March 15 shootings. The charge comes with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and will be a test case for New Zealand’s terrorism laws, which came onto the books in 2002.

Police said Tuesday that they also charged Tarrant with an additional count of murder, bringing the total number of murder charges against him to 51. That came after a Turkish man who was wounded in the attack died earlier this month in Christchurch Hospital.

Police told families and survivors of the new charges at a meeting attended by more than 200 people. </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. </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> 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.

Top News Stories Of The Day

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies </s> The Muslim-hating white supremacist behind February’s deadly shooting rampage in two New Zealand mosques was formally charged with terrorism early Tuesday.

Brenton Tarrant, who allegedly massacred 51 people in a partially livestreamed rampage, was hit with the terror charge more than two months after the April 15 attack.

Tarrant, 28, posted a far-right screed before the killings, which laid out his desire to “create an atmosphere of fear” and to “incite violence” against Muslims.

The terror charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison and will serve as a test case for terror laws adopted by New Zealand in 2002.

Tarrant was charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder following the massacre, but officials on Tuesday tacked on an additional murder charge for a Turkish man who was wounded in the attack and died earlier this month.

With Post wires </s> The self-described white supremacist accused of murdering 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques two months ago has been charged with engaging in a terrorist act—the first time in the country’s history that such a charge has been brought. A lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons burst into two mosques during Friday prayers on March 15 in a terror attack broadcast live on Facebook. The suspect was later named as Australia-born Brenton Tarrant. He already faced a total of 51 charges of murder and 40 of attempted murder, but New Zealand police confirmed Tuesday he would face an additional terror charge. It’s the first under New Zealand’s terrorism suppression legislation, which was introduced in 2002 as a response to the 9/11 attacks. Mohamed Hussein Mostafa, whose father was killed at Al Noor Mosque, said he was relieved by the new charges. “It will cement in people’s minds that terrorism has no race or religion,” he said. </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> CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — A white supremacist suspected in shootings at two mosques that killed 49 people during midday Friday prayers posted an anti-immigrant manifesto online and apparently used a helmet-mounted camera to broadcast live video of the slaughter on Facebook.

Brenton Harrison Tarrant appeared in court Saturday morning amid strict security and showed no emotion when the judge read him one murder charge. The judge said “it was reasonable to assume” more such charges would follow.

Two other armed suspects were taken into custody while police tried to determine what role, if any, they played in the cold-blooded attack that stunned New Zealand, a country so peaceful that police officers rarely carry guns.

It was by far the deadliest shooting in modern New Zealand history.

“It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, noting that many of the victims could be migrants or refugees.

She pronounced it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

Tarrant, who police say carried out at least one of the shootings, posted a jumbled, 74-page manifesto on social media in which he identified himself as a 28-year-old Australian and white supremacist who was out to avenge attacks in Europe perpetrated by Muslims.

The gunman also livestreamed in graphic detail 17 minutes of his rampage at Al Noor Mosque, where, armed with at least two assault rifles and a shotgun, he sprayed worshippers with bullets over and over, killing at least 41 people. Several more people were killed in an attack on a second mosque in the city a short time later.

At least 48 people were wounded, some critically. Police also defused explosive devices in a car.

Police did not say whether the same person was responsible for both shootings. They gave no details about those taken into custody except to say that none had been on any watch list. During the Saturday morning hearing, a man who was not in court was charged with using writings to incite hatred against a race or ethnicity, but it was not clear if his case was related to the mosque attacks.

Tarrant’s relatives in the Australian town of Grafton, in New South Wales, contacted police after learning of the shooting and were helping with the investigation, local authorities said. Tarrant has spent little time in Australia in the past four years and only had minor traffic infractions on his record.

On Saturday, outside one of the two mosques, 32-year-old Ash Mohammed pushed through police barricades in hopes of finding out what happened to his father and two brothers, whose cellphones rang unanswered. An officer stopped him.

“We just want to know if they are dead or alive,” Mohammed told the officer.

In the aftermath, the country’s threat level was raised from low to high, police warned Muslims against going to a mosque anywhere in New Zealand, and the national airline canceled several flights in and out of Christchurch, a city of nearly 400,000.

World leaders condemned the violence and offered condolences, with President Donald Trump tweeting, “We stand in solidarity with New Zealand.” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and other Islamic leaders pointed to the bloodbath and other such attacks as evidence of rising hostility toward Muslims since 9/11.

New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, has relatively loose gun laws and an estimated 1.5 million firearms, or roughly one for every three people. But it has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. In 2015, it had just eight gun homicides.

Before Friday’s attack, New Zealand’s deadliest shooting in modern history took place in 1990 in the small town of Aramoana, where a gunman killed 13 people following a dispute with a neighbor.

On Saturday, the prime minister said the “primary perpetrator” in the shootings was a licensed gun owner and legally acquired the five guns used. Ardern said the country’s gun laws will change as a result of the carnage, but she did not specify how.

New Zealand is also generally considered to be welcoming to migrants and refugees. On Saturday, people across the country were reaching out to Muslims in their communities on social media to volunteer acts of kindness — offering rides to the grocery store or volunteering to walk with them if they felt unsafe. In other forums, people discussed Muslim food restrictions as they prepared to drop off meals for those affected.

The prime minister said the attack reflected “extremist views that have absolutely no place in New Zealand.”

Immigrants “have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home,” Ardern said. “They are us.”

At the White House, Trump called the bloodshed “a terrible thing” but rejected any suggestion the white nationalist movement is a rising threat around the world, saying it is “a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.”

Tarrant, in his rambling manifesto, deemed Trump “a symbol of renewed white identity.”

At the Al Noor mosque, witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black and wearing a helmet with some kind of device on top enter the house of worship and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running out in terror.

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

“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.”

Facebook, Twitter and Google scrambled to take down the gunman’s video, which was widely available on social media for hours after the bloodbath.

In the video, the killer spends more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying terrified worshippers with gunfire. He then walks outside, 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. He walks back into the mosque, where there are at least two dozen people lying on the ground.

After going back outside and shooting a woman there, he gets back in his car, where a song can be heard blasting. The singer bellows, “I am the god of hellfire!” and the gunman drives off before police even arrive.

The second attack took place at the Linwood mosque about 5 kilometers (3 miles) away. Mark Nichols told the New Zealand Herald that he heard about five gunshots and that a worshipper returned fire with a rifle or shotgun.

The footage showed the killer was carrying a shotgun and two fully automatic military assault rifles, with an extra magazine taped to one of the weapons so that he could reload quickly. He also had more assault weapons in the trunk of his car, along with what appeared to be explosives.

His manifesto was a welter of often politically contradictory views, touching on many of the most combustible issues of the day, among them the Second Amendment right to own guns, Muslim immigration, terrorist attacks and the wealthiest 1 percent.

He portrayed himself as a racist and a fascist and raged against non-Westerners, but said China is the nation that most aligns with his political and social values.

The gunman said he was not a member of any organization, acted alone and chose New Zealand to show that even the most remote parts of the world are not free of “mass immigration.”

Last year, New Zealand’s prime minister announced that the country would boost its annual refugee quota from 1,000 to 1,500 in 2020. Ardern, whose party campaigned on a promise to take in more refugees, called it “the right thing to do.”

Christchurch, sometimes called the Garden City, has been rebuilding since an earthquake in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed many downtown buildings.

This story has been amended to delete incorrect reference to Tarrant identifying himself by name in his manifesto.

Perry reported from Wellington. Associated Press writers Juliet Williams in Christchurch; Kristen Gelineau in Sydney; Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia; and Chris Blake in Bangkok contributed to this report. </s> This frame from video that was livestreamed Friday, March 15, 2019, shows a gunman, who used the name Brenton Tarrant on social media, in a car before the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Shooter's Video via AP)

This frame from video that was livestreamed Friday, March 15, 2019, shows a gunman, who used the name Brenton Tarrant on social media, in a car before the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Shooter's Video via AP)

SYDNEY (AP) — The gunman behind at least one of the mosque shootings in New Zealand that left 49 people dead on Friday tried to make a few things clear in the manifesto he left behind: He is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hates immigrants. He was angry about attacks in Europe that were perpetrated by Muslims. He wanted revenge, and he wanted to create fear.

He also, quite clearly, wanted attention.

Though he claimed not to covet fame, the gunman — who authorities identified as Brenton Harrison Tarrant — left behind a 74-page document posted on social media under his name in which he said he hoped to survive the attack to better spread his views in the media.

He also livestreamed to the world in graphic detail his assault on the worshippers at Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque.

That rampage killed at least 41 people, while an attack on a second mosque in the city not long after killed several more. Police did not say whether the same person was responsible for both shootings. Tarrant appeared briefly in court on Saturday morning amid tight security and showed no emotion as the judge read the charge against him.

While his manifesto and video were an obvious and contemptuous ploy for infamy, they do contain important clues for a public trying to understand why anyone would target dozens of innocent people who were simply spending an afternoon engaged in prayer.

There could be no more perplexing a setting for a mass slaughter than New Zealand, a nation so placid and so isolated from the mass shootings that plague the U.S. that police officers rarely carry guns.

Yet the gunman himself highlighted New Zealand’s remoteness as a reason he chose it. He wrote that an attack in New Zealand would show that no place on earth was safe and that even a country as far away as New Zealand is subject to mass immigration.

He said he grew up in a working-class Australian family, had a typical childhood and was a poor student. Tarrant’s relatives in the Australian town of Grafton contacted police after learning of the shooting and were helping with the investigation, local authorities said. Tarrant has spent little time in Australia in the past four years and only had minor traffic infractions on his record.

A woman who said she was a colleague of his when he worked as a personal trainer in Grafton said she was shocked by the allegations against him.

“I can’t ... believe that somebody I’ve probably had daily dealings with and had shared conversations and interacted with would be able of something to this extreme,” Tracey Gray told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The rambling manifesto is filled with confusing and seemingly contradictory assertions about his beliefs.

Beyond his white nationalistic views, he claimed to be an environmentalist and said he is a fascist who believes China is the nation that most aligns with his political and social values. He said he has contempt for the wealthiest 1 percent. And he singled out American conservative commentator Candace Owens as the person who had influenced him the most, while saying “the extreme actions she calls for are too much, even for my tastes.”

In a tweet, Owens responded by saying that if the media portrayed her as the inspiration for the attack, it had better hire lawyers.

The manifesto also included a single reference to President Donald Trump in which the author asked and answered the question of whether he was a Trump supporter: “As a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose? Sure. As a policy maker and leader? Dear god no.”

Throughout the manifesto, the theme he returns to most often is conflict between people of European descent and Muslims, often framing it in terms of the Crusades.

Among his hate-filled statements is a claim that he was motivated toward violence by an episode that occurred in 2017 while he was touring through Western Europe. That was when an Uzbek man drove a truck into a crowd of people in Stockholm, killing five.

He said his desire for violence grew when he arrived in France, where he said he was offended by the sight of immigrants in the cities and towns he visited.

Three months ago, he said, he started planning to target Christchurch. He said he has donated to many nationalist groups, but claimed not to be a direct member of any organization. However, he admitted contacts with an anti-immigration group called the reborn Knights Templar and said he got the approval of Anders Breivik for the attack, a claim that has not been verified.

Breivik is a right-wing Norwegian extremist who killed 77 people in Oslo and a nearby island in 2011. Breivik’s lawyer Oeystein Storrvik told Norway’s VG newspaper that his client, who is in prison, has “very limited contacts with the surrounding world, so it seems very unlikely that he has had contact” with the New Zealand gunman.

The gunman rambled on about the supposed aims for the attack, which included reducing immigration by intimidating immigrants and driving a wedge between NATO and the Turkish people. He also said he hoped to further polarize and destabilize the West, and spark a civil war in the United States that would ultimately result in a separation of races. The attack has had the opposite impact, with condemnation of the bloodshed pouring in from all quarters of the globe, and calls for unity against hatred and violence.

The gunman used various hate symbols associated with the Nazis and white supremacy. For instance, the number 14 is seen on his rifle, a possible reference to the “14 Words,” a white supremacist slogan attributed in part to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. He also used the symbol of the Schwarze Sonne, or black sun, which “has become synonymous with myriad far-right groups who traffic in neo-Nazi,” according to the center.

His victims, he wrote, were chosen because he saw them as invaders who would replace the white race. He predicted he would feel no remorse for their deaths. And in the video he livestreamed of his shooting, no remorse can be seen or heard as he sprays terrified worshippers with bullets again and again, sometimes firing at people he has already cut down.

The gunman — a licensed gun owner who bought the five guns used in the shootings legally — left a scene of carnage that shocked the nation, and the world. It was, in the words of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”
Brenton Tarrant, accused of killing 51 people and wounding 49 others in two New Zealand mosques, is also charged with committing terrorist acts.