Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

New Zealand shooting: Video shows police arresting suspected gunman after 49 killed in mosque attacks

Gunmen believed to have opened fire at two mosques in city of Christchurch as people were praying

Chiara Giordano
Friday 15 March 2019 12:55 GMT
Video appears to show moment of Christchurch arrest

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Video footage has emerged of what appears to show police arresting a gunman who filmed himself shooting people at a mosque in New Zealand.

The recording, shot on a mobile phone, shows a number of police vehicles at the side of a road where a car is pulled over outside a row of houses.

Armed police can be seen standing over a person in dark clothing who is lying on a footpath, and the front right wheel of the car can be seen spinning in the video.

It is believed Australian-born Brenton Tarrant is the gunman who began shooting people with an automatic rifle at Al Noor Mosque, in the city of Christchurch, at about 1.45pm local time (12.45am GMT) on Friday.

The 28-year-old, who filmed the attack in a Facebook Live video, posted a 74-page manifesto in which he claimed the victims were a “large group of invaders” who he said “seek to occupy my people’s lands and ethnically replace my own people”.

Shortly before the attack began, an anonymous post on the discussion site 8chan said the writer was going to “carry out an attack against the invaders” and included links to a Facebook live stream, in which the shooting appeared, and the manifesto.

The Facebook link directed users to the page of a user called brenton.tarrant.9.

A Twitter account with the handle @brentontarrant posted images of a rifle and other military gear decorated with names and messages connected to white nationalism on Wednesday.

What looked like the same weapons appeared in the livestream of the mosque attack on Friday.

At least 30 people were killed in the attack – which was the first of two in Christchurch on the same day.

A second shooting took place at the Linwood Masjid Mosque.

Forty-nine people died in total and at least 20 others were injured.

New Zealand’s police commissioner Mike Bush confirmed a man in his late 20s had been charged with murder.

He will appear in court in Christchurch on Saturday morning.

Three more suspects – two men and one woman – are being held in police custody.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in