New Zealand attack: Family of alleged Christchurch gunman apologise to victims and say they are ‘shattered’ by his actions

‘We're all gobsmacked, we don't know what to think,’ says grandmother of Brenton Tarrant during TV interview

The family of the Australian man charged with shooting dead 50 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques have apologised to his victims and said they have been left “shattered”.

“We’re all gobsmacked, we don’t know what to think,” said Marie Fitzgerald, the grandmother of alleged killer Brenton Tarrant. “It’s just so much of everything to take in that somebody in our family would do anything like this.”

Tarrant, 28, is accused of planning the massacre – which also left at least 50 injured in the city of Christchurch – for more than two years. When he appeared at court on Saturday, he made a white supremacy sign to reporters.

Speaking shortly afterwards in the Australian town of Grafton, New South Wales, where Tarrant grew up, Mrs Fitzgerald said she was “shattered – that’s the word”.

The 81-year-old claimed her grandson had changed following his father’s death from cancer in 2010 and a long trip to Europe which he took soon after.

“It’s only since he travelled overseas, I think, that that boy has changed completely [from] the boy we knew,” she said, adding: “The media is saying he has planned it for a long time so he is obviously not of sound mind.”

Tarrant’s uncle Terry Fitzgerald revealed they had only learned of his nephew’s alleged involvement through news reports on TV.

“First up I said, ‘No it couldn’t be’, but then I saw his photo,” he told Australia’s Nine News. “We are so sorry for the families over there, for the dead and the injured. We just can’t think of nothing else. We just want to go home and hide.”

The alleged killer’s sister and mother have been put under police protection after the terror attacks with other family members told not to contact them, he added.

In other developments on Sunday, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern revealed the alleged killer emailed her office his “manifesto” nine minutes before he is said to have started his attack.