Terror attacks in two Christchurch mosques; Gunmen livestreamed massacre

Two mosques in New Zealand’s Christchurch were attacked Friday killing 49 worshipers. The gunmen opened fire using rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti.

One of the gunmen livestreamed the massacre on Facebook for about 17 minutes. The video was immediately removed from all the social media platforms following alert by New Zealand police.

In the footage a 28-year-old Australian born Brenton Tarrant is seen driving to a mosque listening a song idolizing Radovan Karadzic. He was earlier jailed for genocide against Bosnian Muslims.

Eyewitnesses said multiple shots were fired inside the mosque and the gunmen were wearing a helmet, glasses and a military style jacket.

One of the witnesses said, “He had a big gun and a lot of bullets and he came through and started shooting like everyone in the mosque, like everywhere, and they have to smash the door and the glass from the window and from the small door to try and get out.”

Following the attacks helicopters with armed police circled the area. Schools and shops closed their doors while buses and Uber cars were pulled off the streets. Security lockdown closed large parts of Christchurch.

City Mayor Lianne Dalziel said she was shocked beyond words by the two mosques attacks.

She said, “I would never have expected anything like this to happen in Christchurch, I’d never expect this to happen in New Zealand.”

Some scheduled flights were also affected.