On 15 March 2019, two consecutive terrorist mass shootings took place in Christchurch, New Zealand. They were committed during Friday prayer, first at the Al Noor Mosque in Riccarton at 1:40 p.m., and shortly afterwards at 1:52 p.m. at the Linwood Islamic Centre. In total, 51 people were killed and 89 others were injured, including 40 by gunfire. The perpetrator was identified as Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man at the time.
Tarrant was arrested after his vehicle was rammed by a police car as he was driving to a third mosque in Ashburton. He live-streamed the first shooting on Facebook, marking the first successfully live-streamed far-right terror attack, and had published a manifesto online before the attack. On 26 March 2020, he pleaded guilty to 51 murders, 40 attempted murders, and engaging in a terrorist act, and in August was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole – the first such sentence in New Zealand.
The attacks were mainly motivated by white nationalism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and white supremacist beliefs. Tarrant described himself as an ecofascist and professed belief in the far-right "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory in the context of a "white genocide".
The attack was linked to an increase in white supremacy and alt-right extremism globally observed since about 2015. Politicians and world leaders condemned it, and the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, described it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days". The government established a royal commission into its security agencies in the wake of the shootings, which were the deadliest in modern New Zealand history and the worst ever committed by an Australian national. The commission submitted its report to the government on 26 November 2020, the details of which were made public on 7 December.
The shooting has inspired multiple copycat attacks, especially due to its live-streamed nature. In response to this incident, the United Nations designated 15 March as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
Background
Locations
The gunman first attacked the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue in the suburb of Riccarton, opposite Hagley Park. It was opened in 1985, the first mosque in the South Island. Shortly after, he attacked the Linwood Islamic Centre on Linwood Avenue, 6 km away in the suburb of Linwood: it was opened in 2018.
Perpetrator
Brenton Harrison Tarrant (born 27 October 1990), a white Australian man from Grafton, New South Wales, who perpetrated the shootings, was 28 years old at the time of the shootings. After his arrest, Tarrant told investigators that he frequented right-wing discussion boards on 4chan and 8chan and also found YouTube to be "a significant source of information and inspiration".
Tarrant arrived in New Zealand in August 2017 and lived in Andersons Bay in Dunedin until the shootings. He was a member of a South Otago gun club, where he practised shooting at its range.
Manifesto
Tarrant wrote a 74-page manifesto entitled The Great Replacement, a reference to the "Great Replacement" and "white genocide" conspiracy theories. Minutes before the attacks began, the manifesto was emailed to more than 30 recipients, including the prime minister's office and several media outlets, and links were shared on Twitter and 8chan. Seven minutes after Tarrant sent the email containing the manifesto to parliament, it was forwarded to the parliament security team, who instantly called the police communication centre at 1:40 p.m., around the same time the first 111 calls were made from the Al Noor Mosque.
In the manifesto, several anti-immigrant sentiments are expressed, including hate speech against migrants, white supremacist rhetoric, and calls for all non-European immigrants in Europe whom he claimed to be "invading his land" to be removed. The manifesto displays neo-Nazi symbols though he denies being a Nazi, describing himself instead as an "ethno-nationalist", and an "eco-fascist".
The manifesto was described by some media outlets as "shitposting"—a form of trolling designed to derail conversations and provoke strong reactions. On 23 March 2019, the manifesto was classified as "objectionable" by the Chief Censor, making its use in New Zealand a criminal offence.
Exemptions to the ban were available for journalists, researchers, and academics. In August 2019, The New Zealand Herald reported that printed copies of the manifesto were being sold online outside New Zealand, something New Zealand law could not prevent.
In the manifesto, Tarrant also claimed that China is the nation that most aligns with his political and social values. He had a stated aim of polarising and destabilising the West and to spark a civil war in the United States so as to force a "separation of races".
Planning
Tarrant started planning an attack about two years prior to the shootings, and chose his targets three months in advance. Some survivors at the Al Noor Mosque believed they had seen Tarrant there on several Fridays before the attack, pretending to pray and asking about the mosque's schedules. The Royal Commission report found no evidence of this, and police instead believe that Tarrant had viewed an online tour of Al Noor as part of his planning.
On 8 January 2019, Tarrant used a drone operated from a nearby park to investigate the mosque's grounds. Additionally, he used the Internet to find detailed mosque plans, interior pictures, and prayer schedules to figure out when mosques would be at their busiest levels. On the same day, he had driven past the Linwood Islamic Centre.
Weaponry
Police recovered six guns: two AR-15 style rifles (one manufactured by Windham Weaponry and the other by Ruger), two 12-gauge shotguns (a semi automatic Mossberg 930 and a pump-action Remington Model 870), and two other rifles (a .357 Magnum Uberti lever-action rifle, and a .223-calibre Mossberg Predator bolt-action rifle). Tarrant was granted a firearms licence with an "A" endorsement in November 2017, and purchased weapons between December 2017 and March 2019, along with more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition. He used four 30-round magazines, five 40-round magazines, and one 60-round magazine in the shootings. Additionally, he illegally replaced the semi-automatic rifles' small magazines with the higher capacity magazines purchased online, against the conditions of Tarrant's gun licence.
The guns and magazines used were covered in white writing naming historical events, people, and motifs related to recent Serbian nationalism and past conflicts between muslims and Christians; as well as the names of recent Islamic terrorist victims and the far-right attackers. Some of the markings were white supremacist slogans such as the anti-Muslim phrase "Remove Kebab" and the number "14", a reference to Fourteen Words.
His armoured vest had at least seven loaded .223/5.56 magazines in the front pockets. He also wore an airsoft helmet, which held the head-mounted GoPro he used for his live stream. Police also found four incendiary devices in Tarrant's car; they were defused by the New Zealand Defence Force. He said, on the livestream, that he had planned to set the mosque on fire.
Events
The shootings took place at two locations. Fifty-one people aged between 3 and 77 died in the attacks: 44 were at the Al Noor Mosque (one died in hospital) and seven were at the Linwood Islamic Centre. The dead comprised 43 men, 4 women, and 4 boys. As well as the 51 dead, 89 people were injured, 40 from bullet wounds.
Al Noor Mosque
At 1:32 p.m., Tarrant started his live-stream that would last for 17 minutes on Facebook Live, starting with the drive to the Al Noor mosque and ending as he drove away. Just before the shooting, he played several songs, including "Serbia Strong", a Serb nationalist and anti-Muslim song; and "The British Grenadiers", a traditional British military marching song.
At 1:39 p.m., Tarrant drove his vehicle into the driveway serving apartments on the neighbouring section, with the Al Noor Mosque being adjacent over a fence to his left. He reversed the vehicle so it was facing back out onto Deans Avenue and parked. He then armed himself with the Mossberg 930 and Windham Weaponry AR-15-style rifle before walking round onto the site of the mosque.
At 1:40 p.m., as Tarrant approached the mosque, a worshipper greeted him with "Hello, brother!". Tarrant fired his shotgun nine times towards the front entrance, killing four worshippers. He then threw the shotgun to the ground and opened fire on people inside with the AR-15–style rifle, killing two other men down a hallway near the entrance and dozens more inside a prayer hall; a strobe light attached to the same AR-15 rifle disoriented victims. Rashid was posthumously awarded the Nishan-e-Shujaat and the New Zealand Cross, the highest awards of bravery in Pakistan and New Zealand, respectively.
Tarrant fired at worshippers in the prayer hall from close range. He then went outside, where he killed a man, discarded his Windham WW-15, and retrieved a Ruger AR-556 AR-15 from his car. He went to the mosque's southern gate and, from there, killed two people and injured a third in the car park as they were sheltering behind vehicles. He reentered the mosque and shot already-wounded people, then again went outside, where he killed a woman. Thereupon Tarrant drove over the deceased woman, leaving six minutes after he arrived at the mosque. He shot at fleeing worshippers and cars through the windscreen and closed window of his own car with the Remington Model 870 shotgun as he was driving towards the Linwood Islamic Centre.
At 1:46 p.m., police arrived near the mosque just as Tarrant was leaving, but his car was hidden by a bus, and at the time, no description of the vehicle had been provided, or that he had left. He drove eastwards on Bealey Avenue at up to 130 km/h (81 mph), weaving between lanes against oncoming traffic and driving onto a grass median strip. At 1:51 p.m., just after the livestream had ended due to a connection interruption, he aimed a shotgun at the driver of a vehicle on Avonside Drive and attempted to fire it twice, but it failed to fire on both occasions. The GoPro device attached to Tarrant's helmet continued recording until he was apprehended by police eight minutes later.
Linwood Islamic Centre
At 1:52 p.m., Tarrant arrived at the Linwood Islamic Centre,
5 kilometres (3 mi) east of the Al Noor Mosque, where there were about 100 worshippers. He parked his vehicle on the mosque's driveway, preventing other cars from entering or leaving. According to a witness, Tarrant was initially unable to find the mosque's main door, instead shooting people outside and through a window, killing four and alerting those inside.
A worshipper named Abdul Aziz Wahabzada ran outside. As Tarrant was retrieving more weapons from his car, Aziz threw a payment terminal at him. Tarrant fired back at Aziz, who picked up an empty shotgun that Tarrant had dropped. He took cover among nearby cars and attempted to draw Tarrant's attention by shouting, "I'm here!" Regardless, Tarrant entered the mosque, where he shot and killed three people. When Tarrant returned to his car, Aziz confronted him again. Tarrant removed a bayonet from his vest but then retreated into his car instead of attacking Aziz. Tarrant drove away at 1:55 p.m., with Aziz throwing the shotgun at his car. Aziz was awarded the New Zealand Cross, New Zealand's highest award for bravery. In May 2023, he represented recipients of the Cross at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla. After a long period of being left vacant, the building was demolished in November 2023.
Tarrant's arrest
A silver 2005 Subaru Outback matching the description of Tarrant's vehicle was seen by a police unit, and a pursuit was initiated at 1:57 p.m. Two police officers rammed his car off the road with their vehicle, and Tarrant was arrested without resistance on Brougham Street in Sydenham at 1:59 p.m., 18 minutes after the first emergency call.
Tarrant later admitted that when he was arrested, he was on his way to attack a mosque in Ashburton, 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Christchurch. He also told the police that there were "nine more shooters", and that there were "like-minded" people in Dunedin, Invercargill, and Ashburton, but when interviewed later, he confirmed that he had acted alone.
Legal proceedings
Arraignment
Tarrant appeared in the Christchurch District Court on 16 March, where he was charged with one count of murder. The judge ordered the courtroom closed to the public except for accredited media and allowed the accused to be filmed and photographed on the condition that Tarrant's face be pixelated. In court, Tarrant smiled at reporters and made an inverted OK gesture below his waist, said to be a "white power" sign.
The case was transferred to the High Court, and Tarrant was remanded in custody as his lawyer did not seek bail. He was subsequently transferred to the country's only maximum-security unit at Auckland Prison. Tarrant lodged a formal complaint regarding his prison conditions, on the grounds that he had no access to newspapers, television, Internet, visitors, or phone calls. Corrections said Tarrant was being held in accordance with the law and Tarrant later dropped the complaint. On 4 April 2019, police announced they had increased the total number of charges to 89, 50 for murder and 39 for attempted murder, with other charges still under consideration. At the next hearing on 5 April 2019, Tarrant was ordered by the judge to undergo a psychiatric assessment of his mental fitness to stand trial.
On 20 May, a new charge of engaging in a terrorist act was laid against Tarrant under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. One murder charge and one attempted murder charge were also added, bringing the total to 51 and 40, respectively.