https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2 ... and-mosqueDozens killed in shootings at two New Zealand mosques; 4 people in custody
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that 49 people were killed in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch in "one of New Zealand's darkest days."
Authorities said they had taken three men and one woman into custody. Their identities were not released, but Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said one was an Australian citizen.
In addition to the 49 killed, Ardern said that 20 people had been injured.
Portions of the attack were streamed live on Facebook from the gunman's point of view.
"This can only be described as a terrorist attack," she said. "While we do not have anything to believe at this stage that there were any other suspects, we are not assuming that at this stage."
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that the U.S. stands by New Zealand.
"My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques," the tweet read. "49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!"
Trump's tweet followed a White House statement issued by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders:
"The United States strongly condemns the attack in Christchurch. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," the statement read. "We stand in solidarity with the people of New Zealand and their government against this vicious act of hate."
Police Commissioner Mike Bush told a news conference that a man has been charged with murder and will appear in court Saturday. He would not say whether the same shooter was responsible for both attacks.
A man who earlier claimed responsibility said he was a 28-year-old Australian and described anti-immigrant motives in a manifesto.
More racist bile here:Suspected New Zealand mosque shooter hoped to spark civil war in US
The 28-year-old white supremacist who livestreamed himself slaughtering Muslims inside a New Zealand mosque said he hoped the massacre, among other things, would spark a civil war in the United States.
In a twisted, 74-page manifesto, Australian citizen Brenton Tarrant describes his anti-immigrant motives for unleashing the rampage at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch , saying the victims were a “large group of invaders” who “seek to occupy my peoples lands and ethnically replace my own people [sic].”
He calls himself “just a regular White man, from a regular family. Who decided to take a stand to ensure a future for my people,” adding that he is “a private and mostly introverted person.”
“I had little interest in education [no fucking kidding]during my schooling, barely achieving a passing grade. I did not attend University as I had no great interest in anything offered in the Universities to study,” he writes, adding that he has been working as a “kebab removalist.”
He also admits he is racist and is an “Eco-fascist by nature.”
Tarrant poses the question of why he carried out the attack, then lists more than a dozen reasons.
“To most of all show the invaders that our lands will never be their lands, our homelands are our own and that, as long as a white man still lives, they will NEVER conquer our lands and they will never replace our people,” he says.
“To take revenge on the invaders for the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by foreign invaders in European lands throughout history,” he continues.
“To take revenge for the enslavement of millions of Europeans taken from their lands by the Islamic slavers,” he says. “To take revenge for the thousands of European lives lost to terror attacks throughout European lands.”
He says he also wanted “to create conflict between the two ideologies within the United States on the ownership of firearms in order to further the social, cultural, political and racial divide within the United states.
“This conflict over the 2nd amendment and the attempted removal of firearms rights will ultimately result in a civil war that will eventually balkanize the US along political, cultural and, most importantly, racial lines.”
https://nypost.com/2019/03/15/suspected ... war-in-us/
I'd say that's pretty conclusive in terms of establishing motive...
