One of the New Zealand attackers streamed live on Facebook as he shot worshippers at a mosque, leaving 49 people dead and 48 injured.
The footage, which lasted over 16 minutes, was posted on a page belonging to Brenton Tarrant but was quickly deleted by Facebook.
It appeared to have been filmed with a head camera and shows a man in combat gear driving to the Al Noor Mosque in central Christchurch. After parking his vehicle, he picks up one of a number of rifles inside and walks to the mosque and starts shooting as he approaches the door.
The footage shows the man spend several minutes inside, reloading his rifle several times. At one point he leaves the mosque to fetch another weapon from his car, firing on people in the street.
He then leaves the building, shooting dead another passerby, before driving off in his car, firing another gun through his window.
The gunman’s video also showed red petrol canisters in the back of his car, along with weapons.
Police said they were working to have the footage removed from the internet.
5/5 There will be a media stand-up at 5pm today at the Royal Society Te Aparangi on Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Wellington.
— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 15, 2019
Facebook said they had removed profiles linked to sharing footage of the incident and were deleting any messages of support for the attacks.
A Twitter representative said the social media company was “deeply saddened” by the shootings.
“Twitter has rigorous processes and a dedicated team in place for managing exigent and emergency situations such as this,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We also cooperate with law enforcement to facilitate their investigations as required.”
Suspect charged with murder
A man in his late 20s has been charged with murder and should appear in a Christchurch court tomorrow morning, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said in a press conference.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that an Australian citizen with far-right extremist views was among those taken into custody.
An Australian man is believed to have published an online manifesto, shortly before the video was streamed. The document was linked to from three social media accounts belonging to Brenton Tarrant, according to Storyful.
The writer of the manifesto said he is 28 and Australian. The document, stretching to more than 16,000 words, rails against immigration and cites a list of events from various periods of history which inspired his self-acknowledged terrorist attack.
He also said that he decided to commit the murders following a trip to Europe in 2017 when he saw Emmanuel Macron triumph over his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen in the French presidential elections and saw people he believed were immigrants living in France.
He denied acting on behalf of a group.
