New Zealand police warn gunman’s mosque shooting footage is real
The public should not be sharing the footage, while multiple arrests have been confirmed.
This picture released by Radio New Zealand shows a police officer cordoning a street near the mosque after a firing incident in Christchurch on March 15, 2019. – A gunman opened fire inside the Masjid al Noor mosque during afternoon prayers, causing multiple fatalities. (Photo by – / RADIO NEW ZEALAND / AFP) / New Zealand OUT / XGTY
New Zealand police warned against sharing footage relating to a deadly shooting in Christchurch Friday, after a video online showed a gunman filming himself firing at worshippers inside a mosque.
Police said they have detained four people in connection with deadly shootings at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday and had secured a number of improvised explosive devices.
“Four are in custody, three of them are men and one is a woman,” commissioner Mike Bush said, saying there were “significant” and “multiple” fatalities.
He said the suspected IEDs found attached to the attackers’ vehicles had been made safe by the military.
“Police are aware there is extremely distressing footage relating to the incident in Christchurch circulating online,” New Zealand police said in a Twitter post.
“We would strongly urge that the link not be shared. We are working to have any footage removed.”
AFP analysed a copy of a Facebook Live video that shows a clean-shaven, Caucasian man with short hair driving to a mosque, then shooting as he enters the building.
The gunman continues to shoot at people inside the mosque, some of whom were trying to flee while others were huddled in corners of the building, according to the copy of the video that AFP found on YouTube.
AFP confirmed the video was genuine through a digital investigation that included matching screenshots of the mosque taken from the gunman’s footage with multiple images available online showing the same areas.
This included the entrance of the mosque, which has a number of distinct features such as a fence, postbox and doorway.
Inside the mosque, the gunman’s footage showed distinctively patterned green carpet that also matched images tagged on Google Maps as being at the same location.
Distinctive writing on the gunman’s weapons seen in the footage also matched images posted on a Twitter account using the same name and cartoon profile picture as the Facebook Live video.
A lengthy manifesto posted on the same Twitter account detailed racial motivations for the attack.
The Facebook account that posted the video was no longer available shortly after the shooting. The Twitter account of the same name was quickly suspended.
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