New Zealand mom worries: Waiting to see if son is all right In the wake of the deadly attack against two mosques in New Zealand, police officers sit in their vehicle out side the Al Aqsa Islamic Society mosque in Philadelphia, ahead of prayers Friday, March 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Tributes laid at the police line close to the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch where 41 people died. Police stand outside a mosque in Linwood, Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, March 15, 2019. Multiple people were killed during shootings at two mosques full of people attending Friday prayers. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) A police officer secures the area in front of the Masjid al Noor mosque after a shooting incident in Christchurch on March 15, 2019. - Attacks on two Christchurch mosques left at least 49 dead on March 15, with one gunman -- identified as an Australian extremist -- apparently livestreaming the assault that triggered the lockdown of the New Zealand city. (Photo by Tessa BURROWS / AFP) (Photo credit should read TESSA BURROWS/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — The footage is grainy and has a video-game aesthetic. But it soon becomes terrifyingly obvious that what is being filmed here is not a work of fiction. The video, which has not been verified by CNN, appears to show an unseen attacker opening fire on worshippers in a mosque, as if they were targets in a game. It seems that the video was filmed by a perpetrator of the mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, in which dozens of people were killed and injured. In a sickening angle to an already horrific story, it was live-streamed online. In fact, the entire attack seemed orchestrated for the social media age. Before it took place, a post on the anonymous message board 8chan – a particularly lawless forum that often features racist and extremist posts – seemed to preview the horror. It linked out to an 87-page manifesto filled with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim ideas, and directed users to a Facebook page that hosted the live stream. Posts on Twitter also appeared to herald the attack. Facebook eventually took down the page and Twitter deleted the alleged perpetrator’s profile; but not before the video had spread like wildfire across social media. The attacks took place in the apparently unlikely location of Christchurch, New Zealand, still struggling to recover after a devastating earthquake that brought down thousands of buildings and killed nearly 200 people in 2011. The city’s population fell sharply after that event. The exodus was largely replenished by migrants, many hired to help rebuild the city. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said after the shootings that “many of those who will have been directly affected” were likely migrants or refugees. But this attack was about far more than that influx in Christchurch. This was about the rise of white supremacy online and the power of social media in spreading that message. An internet-driven hate At first glance, the shooter’s “manifesto” seems to recall those of previous white nationalist killers such as Anders Breivik, a far-right terrorist who committed the 2011 Norway attacks. Indeed, the writer references Breivik. But this document is distinctive in being riddled with sarcastic language, deliberate red herrings and allusions to online meme culture, suggesting an internet-driven evolution of nationalist hatred. Martin Hunter/REUTERS/SNPA Family members after a shooting at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. In a widely shared article on the Bellingcat website Friday, the journalist Robert Evans notes that the document contains many white supremacist reference points that are likely accurate representations of the shooter’s views. “But this manifesto is a trap itself, laid for journalists searching for the meaning behind this horrific crime,” Evans adds. “There is truth in there, and valuable clues to the shooter’s radicalization, but it is buried beneath a great deal of, for lack of a better word, ‘shitposting’.” In other words, the whole thing could be described as one big exercise in murderous trolling. Take another example. Before the attack, the gunman told his online viewers to subscribe to the YouTube channel of PewDiePie, who has 89 million followers on the platform. PewDiePie, a Swedish gaming YouTuber whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, has in the past promoted alt-right themes and attracted criticism for lauding an anti-Semitic YouTube channel. The reference to Kjellberg had a dual effect, writes Elizabeth Lopatto on The Verge. Kjellberg, had little choice but to disown the Christchurch attacks. “Just heard news of the devastating reports from New Zealand Christchurch. I feel absolutely sickened having my name uttered by this person. My heart and thoughts go out to the victims, families and everyone affected by this tragedy,” he posted on Twitter to his 17 million followers. But in deflecting potential criticism for inspiring the atrocity, he is forced to draw attention to it, Lopatto says. If any of his 17 million followers had missed the shootings before his post, they were very much aware of them after it, she writes. Lee Jarvis, co-editor of the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism, says that the internet has provided people with minority-held beliefs a space to connect with other like-minded people in a way that can normalize their world view. “There are fears that if you have a small number of people with same ideas, the ideas feel more legitimate and widespread than they actually are,” Jarvis says. The fact that the document is laced with internet in-jokes, references and memes underlines that many white supremacists are radicalized by socializing with each other online, he adds. The manifesto also sarcastically credits relatively anodyne video games, such as Spyro the Dragon and Fortnite, with causing the attackers’ extremism – seemingly to undermine the popular perception that only violent gaming culture has a radicalizing effect. “I’m skeptical that video games play a direct role in terrorism attacks,” says Jarvis. “But the populist culture that anyone consumes shapes how about they go about their daily life.”<doc-sep>In the aftermath of the tragic mosque massacre that claimed 49 lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, tech companies scrambled to purge their platforms of promotional materials that the shooter left behind. As most of the internet is now unfortunately aware, the event was broadcast live on Facebook, making it one of the most horrific incidents of violence to spread through online communities in realtime. As Twitter users cautioned others from sharing the extraordinarily graphic video, some Reddit users actively sought the video and knew exactly where to look. The infamous subreddit r/watchpeopledie was quarantined (making it unsearchable) in September 2018 but until today remained active for anyone to visit directly. The subreddit has a long history of sharing extremely graphic videos following tragic events and acts of violence, like the 2018 murder of two female tourists in Morocco. After Thursday’s shooting, the subreddit became extremely active with users seeking out a copy of the video, which was shot in first-person perspective from a head-mounted camera. After the flurry of interest, one the subreddit’s moderators locked the a thread about the video and posted this statement: “Sorry guys but we’re locking the thread out of necessity here. The video stays up until someone censors us. This video is being scrubbed from major social media platforms but hopefully Reddit believes in letting you decide for yourself whether or not you want to see unfiltered reality. Regardless of what you believe, this is an objective look into a terrible incident like this. Remember to love each other.” Late Thursday, the subreddit’s members were actively sharing mirrored links to the Christchurch video, though they did so largely via direct messaging. After watching the footage, many users returned to the thread to express that the content was extremely disturbing and to caution even their most violence-hardened peers from seeking the video. The subreddit remained active until some time late Friday morning Pacific Time, when Reddit banned the controversial community. Reddit declined to provide details about its decision to ban the long-running community after this particular act of violence. “We are very clear in our site terms of service that posting content that incites or glorifies violence will get users and communities banned from Reddit,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Subreddits that fail to adhere to those site-wide rules will be banned.” The subreddit’s many detractors consider the act of seeking and sharing such graphic depictions of death both inherently disturbing and disrespectful to victims and their families. The subreddit is unquestionably grisly but remains surprisingly well-loved by some devotees, who insist that its graphic depictions of death are in fact life-affirming. “Definitely saved me and helped me figure out I didn’t necessarily have tomorrow to get my shit in order,” one former member said in a thread discussing the since-banned community. “Don’t think it is the kind of place to spend too much time in but, we all need reminders.” Reddit banned the adjacent subreddits r/gore and r/wpdtalk (“watch people die talk”) on Friday as well.<doc-sep>So far, only suspected shooter Brenton Tarrant has been charged with murder for the attack on two mosques in Christchurch on Friday, according to New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush. Bush said at a press conference Sunday that others had been arrested but that police did not believe they were involved in the attack. “I will not be saying anything conclusive until we are absolutely convinced as to how many people were involved, but we hope to be able to give that advice over the next few days,” Bush added. Two other people were apprehended, Bush said, and police seized a firearm from them. The woman was released without charge, while the other man was charged with firearms offenses. One additional man was also arrested in the aftermath of the shooting, but police said they don't believe he was involved in the attack either. Bush said the man was helping get children to safety but that he armed himself, "which is not the right approach."<doc-sep>Video of the shooting begins with the gunman driving to the mosque clad in tactical gear, his car full of weapons. It shows the shooting from his perspective — a chilling record of mass violence that police have warned people not to share. The shooter fires hundreds of rounds of bullets at defenseless worshipers inside and outside Al Noor Mosque, where the majority of the bloodshed occurred, retreating at one point to his car for another weapon. He doubles back on injured victims to make sure they are dead. The violence lasts about six minutes.<doc-sep>
The suspected perpetrator of a massacre at two mosques in New Zealand displayed white supremacist symbols during the deadly assault that killed 49 people and triggered heightened security at mosques around the world. The attack in Christchurch, the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history, shattered the illusion that New Zealand was one of the few countries beyond the reach of global terrorism. The carnage, described by New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, as one of its “darkest days”, prompted prayers and vigils around the world, and revulsion that live footage of the atrocity was allowed to circulate on social media. Ardern said she would consider a total ban on semi-automatic firearms after the alleged gunman obtained five guns legally. “I can tell you one thing right now: our gun laws will change,” she told reporters. Christchurch remained on lockdown on Saturday as the country’s security threat level was raised from low to high. Mosques across New Zealand and in other countries were warned to be vigilant. In the UK and the US, police stepped up patrols in areas with large Muslim populations and around places of worship in direct response to the attack. Responding to the attack on Friday, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned there was an urgent need to tackle Islamophobia across the world. 02:41 Jacinda Ardern says Christchurch mosque shootings were terrorist attack – video A man in his late 20s will appear in court in Christchurch on Saturday morning, charged with murder. Police did not name him or two other suspects who were being questioned, but Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian man, identified himself as being behind the attack. Some witnesses criticised the emergency services for being slow to respond to the shooting, claiming it took up to 20 minutes for the police to arrive on the scene in the largest city in the country’s South Island. The attack, launched during Friday prayers when both mosques were packed, was livestreamed via a camera strapped to the perpetrator. Horrific images of bloodshed and people desperately trying to evade the gunman were copied and shared on social media sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, which struggled to remove the footage. Mainstream media organisations were criticised for hosting clips. The gunman arrived at Al Noor mosque at 1.40pm, opening fire on about 400 people. He killed 41 people before driving four miles to the Linwood Islamic Centre, where another seven people were shot dead. One of the 48 people injured in the attacks later died in hospital. A bomb disposal team was called in to dismantle explosive devices found in a stopped car. At Al Noor mosque, Khaled Al-Nobani said a man entered with two rifles, one a “pump-action [gun]”, and “started shooting everyone – young people, old women”. He added: “He shot the first one on the gate, two people in the corridor, and go inside started shooting everyone.” One man was killed in front of his three children, Al-Nobani said. He claimed police took 20 minutes to arrive. “We are in the middle of the city. The middle of Christchurch. There was no traffic about. You need two-minute [maximum] response.” Carl Pomare and a colleague were driving past the mosque at the time of the attack. “I saw lots of people running outside the mosque … In the next second there was rapid fire and people were being knocked down like tenpins. I saw them being hit from behind, I saw them falling to the ground,” he told the BBC. The pair stopped to help the injured. “There were lots of bodies and there was no sirens, no police or ambulance because this had just happened … It was a scene of carnage – we were there for a good 15 or 20 minutes, just civilians, helping these people as much as we could until more support came in,” Pomare added. A survivor of the attack at Linwood described how a man tackled the shooter. “The young guy who usually takes care of the mosque … he saw an opportunity and pounced on [the gunman] and took his gun,” Syed Mazharuddin told the New Zealand Herald.