An Australian man accused of New Zealand’s worst-ever mass shooting was active for more than half an hour, police said, offering their first official timeline of events that left 49 people dead at two mosques on Friday.
Brenton Tarrant was charged with one count of murder, and police said further charges will follow as they piece together how the 28-year-old was able to travel across Christchurch in a car containing five guns, including semiautomatic rifles, and which was armed with improvised explosive devices. Mr. Tarrant was remanded in custody following a brief appearance in court on Saturday, but wasn’t required to enter a plea.
Police said they were first alerted to a possible shooting at 1:42 p.m. local time Friday at the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue. Video footage, seen by The Wall Street Journal, appears to show Mr. Tarrant in military combat gear driving to the mosque before beginning his murderous rampage.
Most of the deaths at the Al Noor mosque were in the main prayer hall. Worshipers sought safety in the corners of the room but the absence of furniture meant they were exposed to the gunman’s bullets. One man who tried to escape was gunned down as he sought to pass the shooter in the corridor.
According to the video footage, Mr. Tarrant slaughtered worshipers at Al Noor in a roughly two-minute rampage within that building. He then left for about two minutes before re-entering the building and firing on people on the ground for a further minute.
Police allege Mr. Tarrant then drove to the Linwood Mosque, some 5 miles away, where he continued killing.
“We believe from the time he left the Deans [Avenue] mosque, to the Linwood mosque, was seven minutes,” said Canterbury Police District Commander Superintendent John Price.
Witnesses say the shooter began firing outside the Linwood mosque, which led several worshipers inside to agree on tackling him in a desperate act of self-defense.
One of those worshipers was Ahmed Khan, an Afghan refugee who had come to New Zealand some 12 years earlier. Mr. Khan went outside to help a man who had been shot in the driveway, but was forced back into the mosque after being fired upon himself.
Mr. Khan urged fellow worshipers to act. “I just told them let’s get him otherwise if we didn’t get him he’s going to shoot all of us, he’s got heaps of bullets,” he said.
Stripped of his firearm in a scuffle, the shooter ran back to the driveway to pick up a spare weapon and renewed his assault. At one point, Mr. Khan was cradling an injured man inside the mosque when the attacker appeared at the window and fatally shot the man in the head before fleeing the scene.
Sequence of Events at Al Noor Mosque
Alley
2
6
3
Driveway
4
5
1
He returns to Deans Ave., walks through a driveway and re-enters the mosque.
He enters the mosque.
(See detail)
The gunman drives north on Deans Ave., turns into an alley, then turns around.
1
3
5
He parks and walks toward the mosque.
He leaves the mosque and fires his weapon, then returns to his vehicle.
After returning to his car, he drives north.
6
2
4
Alley
2
6
3
Driveway
4
5
1
He returns to Deans Ave., walks through a driveway and re-enters the mosque.
He enters the mosque.
(See detail)
The gunman drives north on Deans Ave., turns into an alley, then turns around.
1
3
5
He parks and walks toward the mosque.
He leaves the mosque and fires his weapon, then returns to his vehicle.
After returning to his car, he drives north.
4
6
2
Alley
2
6
3
Driveway
4
5
1
He returns to Deans Ave., walks through a driveway and re-enters the mosque.
The gunman drives north on Deans Ave., turns into an alley, then turns around.
He enters the mosque.
(See detail)
1
5
3
He parks and walks toward the mosque.
He leaves the mosque and fires his weapon, then returns to his vehicle.
After returning to his car, he drives north.
2
4
6
Alley
6
2
3
Driveway
4
5
1
The gunman drives north on Deans Ave., turns into an alley, then turns around.
1
He parks and walks toward the mosque.
2
He enters the mosque. (See detail)
3
He leaves the mosque and fires his weapon, then returns to his vehicle.
4
He returns to Deans Ave., walks through a driveway and re-enters the mosque.
5
After returning to his car, he drives north.
6
Source: Google (image)
Inside the mosque
Prayer hall
3. Sprays room with gunfire
2. Shoots into side room
1. Gunman shoots through door before entering
Entryway
4. On returning, he fires down
the building’s south side before re-entering, shooting people on the ground and fleeing.
Prayer hall
3. Sprays room with gunfire
2. Shoots into side room
1. Gunman shoots through door before entering
Entryway
4. On returning, he fires down the building’s south side before re-entering, shooting people on the ground and fleeing.
Prayer hall
3. Sprays room with gunfire
2. Shoots into side room
1. Gunman shoots through door before entering
Entryway
4. On returning, he fires down
the building’s south side before re-entering, shooting people on the ground and fleeing.
Prayer hall
3
2
1
Entryway
4
Gunman shoots through door before entering
1.
2.
Shoots into side room
Sprays room with gunfire
3.
On returning, he fires down
the building’s south side before re-entering, shooting people on the ground and fleeing.
4.
Note: Drawing is schematic. Sequence of events based on review of gunman’s video.
Mr. Tarrant’s alleged rampage ended when police rammed his car on a suburban street, and officers were able to drag him from the vehicle. Police said it took 36 minutes from receiving the first call of a possible shooting to apprehending the attacker.
“That is an incredibly fast response time,” said Mr. Price. “You had a mobile offender across a large metropolitan city.”
Doctors described an unfolding scene of carnage as traumatized worshipers, many with gunshot wounds and leaking blood, began to arrive at Christchurch Hospital.
Greg Robertson, Canterbury District Health Board’s chief of surgery, was in a top-floor office of the hospital’s outpatient building when he realized something unusual was up.
“The first that I was aware was [as] there were ambulances and sirens and there were armed policemen entering the hospital,” he said. Those police put the hospital into lockdown and took up positions around the site.
By Saturday afternoon, roughly three dozen people were still being treated at Christchurch Hospital, where 12 operating theaters had run through the night. Most patients were men aged 30-40, but the injured also included very young and elderly victims, officials said. Some had gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. On Saturday, 11 were in critical condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Surgeons at Christchurch Hospital have dealt with massive casualties and injuries before. But “without a doubt, it is unusual for surgeons in this part of the world to deal with gunshot wounds,” particularly so many, said Dr. Robertson.
The volume of injured and dead meant many relatives waited hours before learning the fate of their loved ones, sometimes not hearing news until Saturday. Others who knew their kin hadn’t survived wanted authorities to quickly release their bodies so they could be buried in accordance with Muslim faith.
CHRISTCHURCH
Linwood
Mosque
Al Noor
Mosque
Deans Ave.
NEW
ZEALAND
1 mile
Christchurch
1 km
The witness testimony comes as authorities seek to learn more about Mr. Tarrant, and two other people whose potential links to the attack are being investigated.
Not only were those apprehended not on any security watch lists, none had a criminal history either in New Zealand or Australia. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she has asked authorities to investigate whether social-media posts prior to Friday’s massacre should have triggered a response. “That work is already under way,” she said.
Mr. Tarrant was only known for some minor traffic matters in Australia, police in New South Wales state said.
Australian police said Mr. Tarrant’s relatives were assisting their investigation. Still, they said that he had mostly been in New Zealand in recent years.
Ms. Ardern said that Mr. Tarrant was granted a gun license in November 2017 and started acquiring firearms soon after. Mr. Tarrant had been living in Dunedin prior to the attacks, she added. Police are currently searching a property in that city.
Mr. Tarrant was a member of a gun club in the Dunedin area called the Bruce Rifle Club since early 2018, according to Scott Williams, the club’s vice president. Mr. Williams said the club is assisting police in the investigation. Dunedin is some 200 miles south of Christchurch.
“To those Club members who had anything to do with him, he seemed like a normal person and never gave anyone reason to suspect he would carry out an attack like he has,” Mr. Williams said in an email. “The Club is feeling shocked, stunned, and a bit betrayed that we’ve had this person in our Club that would do these horrible things to some innocent human beings.”
Mr. Williams said he personally saw Mr. Tarrant, who approached the club for membership, use a hunting rifle and AR-15.
In Grafton, where Mr. Tarrant grew up, Dean Greg Jenks at Christ Church Cathedral said the family is “well known, respected and loved.” Mr. Jenks and other community leaders have organized a vigil at the cathedral, which is scheduled for Monday night.
“There are people just drifting through the cathedral during the day to sit quietly, light a candle, say a prayer,” he said. “That’s normal, but I think there’s a bit more traffic today.”
Mr. Tarrant’s father died in 2010 from cancer, according to an obituary published in the local Daily Examiner newspaper.
Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com and Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@wsj.com
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