- Police Chief Andrew Coster said at the briefing that the man was acting alone and the police believed that the public would not be further threatened.
- The identity of the attacker is unknown and he has been an “interested person” for about five years.
- Since a white supremacist gunman killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019, New Zealand has remained vigilant about attacks.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that New Zealand police shot and killed a knife-wielding “extremist” known to the authorities on Friday after stabbing and wounding at least 6 people in a supermarket. people.
Ardern said the attacker was a Sri Lankan national who had lived in New Zealand for 10 years, inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and was constantly under surveillance.
“A violent extremist carried out a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders,” Ardern said at a briefing.
“He is clearly a supporter of the Islamic State ideology,” she said, referring to the Islamic State.
Ardern said the assailant was unidentified and he had been an “interested person” for about five years, adding that he was killed within 60 seconds of the start of the attack in Oakland.
A shopper, Michelle Miller, told Stuff Online News that the police following the man thought he was going shopping at the New Lynn supermarket, but picked up a knife from the display rack and began to “wander around like a madman.” “Run” stabbed people.
A witness told the New Zealand Herald that the attacker chanted “Allahu akbar” (God is the greatest).
Police Chief Andrew Coster said at the briefing that the man was acting alone and the police believed that the public would not be further threatened:
We are doing everything possible to monitor him. The fact that we were able to intervene so quickly in about 60 seconds shows that we are watching him closely.
Since a white supremacist gunman killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019, New Zealand has remained vigilant about attacks.
When asked whether the attack on Friday might be retaliation for the 2019 mosque shooting, Ardern said that it is not yet clear. She said people who are responsible for violence, not beliefs.
“This is hateful, this is wrong. This is carried out by individuals, not by faith,” Ardern said. “It is wrong to convey any frustration to anyone but this person.”
A video posted on social media showed that a few seconds after the attacker attacked, there were shoppers in the supermarket.
“There is someone here with a knife…he has a knife,” a woman can be heard. “Someone was stabbed.”
Shortly before about 10 gunshots were fired, a guard asked people to leave the mall.
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Ardern’s sympathetic response to the 2019 mosque shootings united her shocked country, but Friday’s violence may raise questions about why the attackers were allowed to remain free if the authorities suspected the attackers.
Ardern said that the man did not commit any crimes that would lead to his arrest:
If the crime he committed would put him in jail, then he would be there. Unfortunately, he didn’t…On the contrary, he was being watched and being followed.
She said that when she learned about the attack, she “completely broke down.”
The St. John’s Ambulance Service stated that of the six injured, three were in critical condition, one was in serious condition and two were in moderate condition.
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Another witness, Amit Nand, told Newshub media that he saw the attacker and told him to put down the knife before the police arrived.
“This undercover policeman came to me…I want to beat him…The policeman was like’come back’ and he started shooting at him,” Nande said.
The imam Gamal Fouda of Al Noor Mosque was the main target of Christchurch gunmen in 2019. He said that both white nationalists and ISIS support hatred.
“Our hearts are broken, but we are not broken again… We stand with the victims of terrible incidents,” he said.
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