- 49 people are dead after gunmen opened fire on two Christchurch mosques.
- 41 were killed at the Al Noor mosque, and 8 at the Linwood Avenue mosque.
- Another 20 people are in serious condition. They vary from young children to adults. Some would need multiple surgeries and some had been taken to other health facilities around the country.
- Three suspects are in custody. Police said they were not aware of other people, but they cannot be sure there are not others at large. One of the gunmen was identified as Brenton Tarrant, 28, and had two accomplices and the fourth person arrested today was not connected to the shootings. One of the three, who officially is being identified as a 28-year-old man, has been charged with murder.
- A gunman live-streamed the entering of a mosque with a weapon drawn and carrying out the attack. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has asked people not share or spread images or video showing the attack.
- Police said two explosive devices were found on one of the attackers’ cars.
- In a 74-page manifesto said to have been written by the unnamed gunman, he claims to have planned the Christchurch attack “three months in advance”.
- Australian PM Scott Morrison confirmed an Australian-born citizen had been arrested and called him an “extremist right-wing violent terrorist”
- New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the shootings “a terrorist attack”.
- Prime Minister Ardern said the suspects were not previously on any terror or police watchlists. She called the shootings “a terrorist attack”.
- The Christchurch mosque shootings are now the deadliest in New Zealand history. Previously the Aramoana massacre claimed the lives of 13 people in 1990.
- Police and the NZ Defence Force carried out a controlled explosion of two bags left in Auckland’s Britomart this evening. It was a precautionary measure and the bags were found to only contain scaffolding equipment.
- Air New Zealand had cancelled all turbo prop flights out of Christchurch as precaution.
