The death toll is now at 50 as one more victim died at hospital. Although some victims have yet to be identified, those victims already identified range in age from 3 to late 70s.
The gunman was arrested 21 minutes after police were first notified.
First responders were on the first scene less than 6 minutes after being called.
One of the suspects in custody was arrested for distributing the livestream that the gunman put on social media. If charged, he could serve up to 14 years in prison.
The first wave of burials happened today. Thirty victims have now been released to family.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said there will be two minutes of silence on Friday to mark a week since the attacks.
Read more below.
Update at 12:30 p.m. NZST 16th March
Gunman has been identified as Brenton Tarrant, a 28 year-old Australian man. He was in court today and will reappear in court on April 5th.
-He had lived in Dunedin, not Christchurch.
-A legally obtained the firearms he used. Of those weapons, 2 were semi-automatic. He also used shotguns. The gunman had a gun license. However, the magazines or bump stocks used were not legal. That means that the weapon as a whole, the semi-automatic weapons and magazines, are illegal in New Zealand.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed that New Zealand gun laws will change.
-She has said she is looking into banning semi-automatic weapons.
She has also said the government will look into New Zealand border control, having better communication with the Australian police and government, and what needs to change with who New Zealand puts on watch lists.
-She has also been in contact with many world leaders including Donald Trump. He asked what he could do to help and she said to show sympathy and love for all Muslim communities.
-Ardern is now in Christchurch.
A Christchurch man was one of the people originally arrested and has since been released. He now seeks compensation for the wrongful arrest as he said he was "trying to help."
The other two suspects are still in custody as police try to see how/if they are connected to the situation.
None of the 3 who are in custody had criminal records or were on watch lists.
Domestic flights have resumed in New Zealand.
42 people are being treated in hospital, two of whom are critically ill and one of the two is a 5 year-old.
Police still ask all mosques to keep their doors closed for the safety of all.
Hundreds of kiwis in London came together at Hyde Park in a vigil.
Read more below.
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Update at 9:40 p.m. NZST:
Police Commissioner Mike Bush addressed the press at around 9 p.m.
-He confirmed the most up-to-date numbers of injured and dead:
- 48 people were seriously injured at both mosques.
- 200 families were waiting at the hospital for more information.
- 41 dead at the Deans Ave. mosque.
- 7 dead at the Linwood mosque.
- 1 died at the hospital.
- Total death toll thus far is 49.
-1 man has been charged with murder and will be in court tomorrow.
-2 other suspects were found with weapons in their vehicle and/or on their person.
-1 other person is still a suspect, but his/her connection to this situation is unknown.
-2 IEDs (improvised explosive devices) were found on 1 suspect's car.
-Rumours have been flying and the commissioner addressed some of them:
--the charged suspect was not actually wearing explosive devices on his body.
--the police are no longer looking for additional shooters.
--these suspects were not on any watch list and the government is looking into whether there was any indication that they should have been.
-There were many questions the commissioner would not answer because the suspect has now been charged and he did not feel it would be right when much of that would come to light tomorrow in court.
Other news:
-This is the first time ever the the national security level has been raised to high.
-PM Jacinda Ardern said NZ has people from more than 200 cultures and says that it's this diversity that may have tempted the gunman.
-Ardern also confirmed that the attack was well-planned.
-The Christchurch mayor described the terrorist attack as a hate crime, but urged New Zealanders to "respond with love."
-The Australian suspect is known to be a white supremacist and said on his social media account that this attack was in response to attacks on whites.
-All lockdowns are now over, though the police is still urging mosques across the nation to keep their doors closed. Even with that urging, armed police are present at most, if not all, mosques in the country to make sure there are no other attacks.
-The 48 injured included children as well as adults.
Read more below.
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Update at 7:48 p.m. NZST:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern held a press conference around 7:30 p.m.
-Ardern says it is officially described as a terrorist attack.
-She also said that at this point that there are 40 confirmed dead, along with 20 seriously injured.
-The national threat level has been raised from low to high to reflect that police and government officials are acting in a way that keeps all people in the country safe. Many domestic flights have been canceled as the security is not the same for domestic flights as international ones.
-Ardern says New Zealand was chosen for this attack by a gunman because of the nation's compassion and kindness and she hopes that the nation does not change its attitude just because of this.
-Answering many questions, Ardern addressed the fact that the gunman was not on any watch list but that the nation stands against ANY extremism and violence, regardless of where the extremists are from.
-She also confirmed that there was not in fact an active shooter at the hospital.
Other news:
-Many lockdowns have been lifted, but I am not sure if all areas have been cleared from lockdown.
-The Christchurch Hospital, where many families went to find others from the shootings, lifted its lockdown and people were finally free to leave to track down family they couldn't find at the hospital.
As the evening progresses, the commissioner will be back to brief the press again.
I will continue to try to update this information with new information.
Read more below.
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First, Josh and I are safe, as is Josh's family.
However, at the time of posting, I have friends who are teachers in Christchurch and are in lockdown as it is still an active shooter situation.
Josh's sister texted me at 2:40 p.m. NZST asking if we were okay. At the time, I didn't know what had happened. She let me know what had happened and I started watching events unfold on the news.
About an hour before I heard about it, one of the shootings occurred. There was more than one shooting. Two mosques were attacked and as I write this, it is still unclear whether there was/is a third active shooter situation at the Christchurch Hospital, the same place where victims were sent from the mosques.
One of the mosques had more than 500 people inside.
All mosques across the nation have been urged to close their doors for the time being and people are asked to stay off the premises of those places for safety reasons.
The police commissioner announced that they had apprehended four suspects: three men and one woman. They also found multiple IEDs across the area. Those have been disengaged, but this information speaks to the seriousness of the situation. (This information came to light at roughly 5:30 p.m. NZST.)
It has also come to light that one of the shooters live-streamed the shooting.
Thus far, there is an unconfirmed number of 27 presumed dead, but many more injured.
At the time of posting (6:00 p.m. NZST), all Christchurch schools were still on lockdown as well as other government buildings. The commissioner did say that once they have enough police officers "saturating that area," those lockdowns would be lifted.
Because it's still an active shooter situation, residents of Christchurch were urged to stay inside, stay away from certain areas of the city if they must be out, and wait for more information from police and city officials.
Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, addressed the nation saying that this is certainly one of New Zealand's darkest days. She showed compassion for those people at the mosques, many of whom are most likely immigrants to New Zealand, and said they have chosen to make New Zealand their home and that "they are us." She then went on to condemn the shooters who committed these senseless acts.
One of the suspects is a 28-year-old Australian who, in his manifesto posted on social media, said that he originally hadn't chosen New Zealand for this mass shooting, but once he moved here, he decided he wanted to show that no country is immune to a shooting such as this, not even New Zealand.
It has also been noted that this Australian shooter used an AR-15, which the NRA refers to as America's rifle.
I understand that you might be able to gather all this information in other places, but those who are in the US may not be able to see/hear all this information and because of the large number of mass shootings in America, this news may not be as significant to their news cycle.
The area that this happened was one of the places I took my parents just 2.5 weeks ago. It is a very populated area and easily accessible by car for those shooters to escape. Fortunately 4 have been arrested, but it is still unclear whether there are more.
I will try to update this as more information becomes available.
