[Senator Clay Davis]

Forty-nine people are dead and scores more are injured after a heavily armed gunman clad in military-style gear opened fire during prayers at a mosque in the center of Christchurch, New Zealand, on Friday. A second mosque was also targeted in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called a well-planned “terrorist attack” making for “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”

Authorities said they had four people in custody — three men and one women — but later clarified that only three were believed to have been involved in the violence. One man in his late 20s, whom the authorities declined to name, was charged with murder and was expected to appear in court on Saturday morning. The suspects had not been on security watch lists, officials said.

Police had also deactivated an improvised explosive device, and were working to disarm a second, that had been attached to a vehicle used by the suspects. Counterterrorism forces were activated across New Zealand and Australia, as New Zealand elevated its national security threat level to “high” for the first time

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said 41 people had been killed at Al Noor mosque on Deans Road, opposite a large downtown park. Seven more were fatally shot about three miles away at a mosque in Linwood, an inner suburb of Christchurch, and another person died at the hospital.

Health officials said 48 patients, including both young children and adults, were being treated for gunshot wounds at Christchurch Hospital, while additional victims were seeking medical treatment elsewhere. Around 200 family members were at the hospital awaiting news about loved ones.

Portions of the ghastly attack at the downtown mosque were broadcast live on social media by a man who police confirmed had also released a manifesto railing against Muslims and immigrants. The 74-page document states that he was following the example of notorious right-wing extremists, including Dylann Roof, who murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.

The manifesto, littered with conspiracy theories about white birth rates and “white genocide,” is the latest sign that a lethal vision of white nationalism has spread internationally. Its title, “The Great Replacement,” echoes the rallying cry of, among others, the torch-bearing protesters who marched in Charlottesville in 2017.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.7c38afc8809d

UPDATE

The death toll from the Christchurch shootings has risen to 50 after a victim, previously not accounted for by police, was discovered at one of the mosques.

A gunman with a semi-automatic weapon massacred worshippers gathered for Friday prayers in two locations: a mosque at Deans Avenue in central Christchurch and another mosque in the nearby suburb of Linwood.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said a further examination of the crime scene allowed them to find another victim.

"As of last night, we were able to take all of the victims from both of those scenes and in doing so we have located a victim," he said.

A further 50 people were injured in the attack, Commissioner Bush said, and 36 remain in the Christchurch Hospital, twelve of whom are in the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-...aland/10909288