you are watching a bbc news special. iam you are watching a bbc news special. i am victoria derbyshire. a9 people have been killed and many more this is a bbc news special seriously injured after a mass with anita mcveigh and david eades. shooting in the new zealand city of a mass shooting at two mosques in the new zealand christchurch. it is the worst terrorist attack in the country's city of christchurch. 49 people are dead, many history. i was hearing shooting after shooting up to shooting. it more are badly injured. went on about six minutes or more. i a male in his late—20s has been could hear screaming and crying. i charged with murder and should appear in a christchurch saw some people were drop dead. court tomorrow morning. these are people who i would these are people i would describe as describe as having extremist views that have absolutely no place having extremist views that have in new zealand and in fact have no place in the world. absolutely no place in new zealand and in fact had no it went on about six minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying. worshippers were gunned down during friday prayers. police have defused

a number of explosive devices near the mosques. we'll have the latest from christchurch. hello and welcome to a bbc news special programme. welcome to viewers in the uk and around the world to this bbc news special on the shooting attacks on two mosques in the new zealand city of christchurch. 49 people are known to have died. dozens more are being treated in hospital for gunshot wounds. witnesses say at least one gunman opened fire on worshippers at the mosques, as they gathered for friday prayers. one man, in his twenties, has been charged with murder. two other men and one woman were detained in the areas around the mosques but police have established that one had no involvement. police are investigating reports that an attacker live—streamed their actions.

new zealand's prime minister jacinda arden has described the events as an extreme and unprecedented act of violence. we'll be with you for the next hour, bringing you eyewitness reports and reaction from around the world. we begin our coverage with this report from simon jones. unprecedented is how police are describing this attack. scores dead as two mosques are targeted during friday prayers. people ran for their lives but many did not make it. i was hearing shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on about six minutes or more. i could hear screaming and crying. people outside were also caught up in the chaos. i stopped the car in shock. i leaned either way, i think across the seats to try and avoid getting shot.

a bullet went sailing over my car and struck someone in the back. it is believed the gunman filmed his attack. explosives were found attached to vehicles. it is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack. from what we know, it does appear to have been well—planned. all mosques in the country have been told to close their doors. schools were put into lockdown. a man has been charged with murder. pa rt a man has been charged with murder. part of our investigation will be to look back at every possibility to ensure that we in law enforcement and security did not miss any opportunities to prevent this horrendous event. the australian prime minister said one of those arrested is from his country. i can confirm the individual who was taken into custody, i have been advised, is an australian—born citizen and, obviously,

that element of investigation, australian authorities are involved in. a community and a country now trying to comprehend one of its darkest days. just to bring you right up to date, the prime minister, jacinda ahern, did say categorically on her last briefing that this is being perceived very much as a terrorist attack though she also conceded those people who had been arrested are not on any security watch list. police are trying to establish whether the gunman at the al noor mosque mosque was also responsible for the attack at the linwood mosque. at least one of the people and questioned has had nothing to do

with the terror attack. dominic o'connell is as bbc journalist, currently in christchurch. he is out there visiting family and was close to the scene of the attacks. he worked in the centre of christchurch, i believe, when this happened. when were you first are aware that something was wrong?” was doing an interview for radio new zealand and the silence started. i was driving towards where my mother is living. there are police cars everywhere and my brother called me to say he was cycling past the mosque, just to the west of hagley park, where the main attack was. he saw a man covered in blood. he was carrying a man to safety and he told my brother he built between 15 and 20 people were killed in the attack.

we now know that in total the death toll is a9, much worse than was even thought then. that was at around two o'clock in the afternoon. there was a period of lockdown with most public buildings and schools closed. i cannot say life has returned to normal but now there is traffic on the streets. most people are in a state of shock, horror, disbelief that this could have happened in christchurch. new zealand is seen by many as a place apart, a place of peace, the last place you would think of for something like this to happen. the new zealand prime minister in her earlier news conference made a comment to that effect and said new zealand,

christchurch, had been chosen because of that. the sense of shock must be absolutely immense. new zealand had no mass shootings before. when it comes to terrorism, you really had to go back to 1985 and the rainbow warrior bombing when two french security agents blew up the greenpeace vote in auckland harbour. one person was killed, a portuguese photographer, was killed in the attack. it was 1985. since then new zealand has not been touched by terrorism. there are more groups of immigrants but the new zealand way of life, the all in together type of approach has always been part of the new zealand psyche, real or imagined, i do not know. pa rt real or imagined, i do not know. part of the national identity. those old grudges, those old religious hatred slower perhaps left behind. perhaps today is a day when a lot of that has been brought home to christchurch by my home town. not a small town. like a lot of new

zealand it retains some of the small town feel. what sense do you have, dominic, about the response from people? i am dominic, about the response from people? iam not dominic, about the response from people? i am not talking about if and politicians but from the ordinary people. disbelief and horror as to some of the details and shootings. it is not a small town. people will have been involved. it is happening close to the centre of town and people will have seen stuff going on. a lot of people gather around their televisions watching the constant updates on the death toll. there will be mounting sense of revulsion and horror. they have had tests of their strength and adversity before. there was a devastating earthquake killing 185

people. christchurch felt it was recovering. it was a long time after the earthquake and took a long time to get back on its feet. strength and adversity will be tested again by the attack. thank you for talking to us. the bbc correspondent in christchurch visiting family. the main issues on your screen as well. a9 people are known to have lost their lives in the attacks on the two mosques in christchurch. 20 are said to be in serious condition in hospital. another 20 to 30 are also being treated as well. one male in his late 20s has been charged with murder. hearing from the australian prime minister earlier talking about

one suspect being an australian, which has not been confirmed as being the man he was charged with murder at this stage by new zealand police. he is to appear in court in the morning, new zealand time. the mayor of christchurch has also been responding to the events. this is what she had to say. i think it's really important that people remain absolutely calm, and feel free to talk to friends and family about the feelings that you will have. it's natural. i never could believe that something like this would ever happen in the city of christchurch, but actually, i would never believe that this would ever happen in new zealand. and it looks as if something, the worst has happened, and we need to pull together and get through this situation. the latest details were given by new zealand's commissioner of police, mike bush, at a news conference in wellington just an hour ago. here's a little of what he said. at the deans avenue mosque, we now know that a1 people have lost their lives.

and at the linwood mosque, seven have lost their lives. of the a0 people who are being treated at christchurch hospital, one has now passed. so the total number of people who have died in this horrendous event are a9. and our hearts go out to them and all of their family, all of theirfriends, all of their loved ones. and i want to assure everyone that we will do our best for them. and at the end i will talk about and give you the 0800 number so people can contact us and get more information about those who have died and some surrounding circumstances. i would like to also add that so far one person,

a male in his late—20s, has been charged with murder and should appear in a christchurch court tomorrow morning. three other people were apprehended. we believe one of those persons, who was armed, and was at the scene, may have had nothing to do with this incident and the two other people that have been apprehended, again in possession of firearms in the general environment, we are working three to understand what their involvement is. —— working through. we have recovered a number of firearms from both of the scenes, linwood avenue and deans avenue. i would like to assure everyone around new zealand that every available police and emergency resource with our other government

agencies and defence force are doing everything they can to keep our communities safe. that was mike bush speaking about an hour ago on the very latest details they have. we have had a lot of eyewitness accounts as to what went on around the mosques, not inside the outside as well. a senior member of the al noor mosque was in the building at the time of the shooting. he has been speaking to a journalist near the scene outside the police cordon. as a warning to viewers, he describes upsetting scenes. i was inside the mosque. i was in the side room and the imam had started the sermon. so everybody was settled, you know. it was very peaceful, calm and quiet, as usually it is when the imam starts talking, everybody is quite and it is a pin drop silence.

but then, suddenly, the shooting started. it started in the main room because the shooter must have come through the hallway. i was in the side room so i did not see who was shooting. but i saw that some people were running out through my room where i was in and also i saw some people had blood on their body and some people were limping. at that moment, you know, i realised it was really serious. a couple of people that said to me, you are in wheelchair, you've got to get out now. i tried to get out and i pushed myself at the back where my car was parked and i was behind the car. and then, from there, i was hearing shooting after shooting after shooting. it went on about six minute or more.

i could hear screaming and crying. i saw some people who were, you know, drop dead. and some people were running away. i was on the wheelchair. i could not go anywhere and i didn't want to because i was afraid of what was going to happen to the ladies come to my wife, so i stayed there. —— to the ladies and to my wife. but luckily, the shooter, he did his massacre inside the mosque and he did not come in the back, otherwise he could have got me. let's hear now from another man who was in the mosque at the time of the shooting and says he saw one of the gunmen. i heard the firing and it was from the main entrance, the main entrance of the building.

everybody just ran everybodyjust ran to the back doors to save themselves. and first we hide behind the car and then under the car and we see the firing still going on and we try to jump the fence. then we hide next house to the mosque on this side. the firing goes on and on, you know. and one person with us had a bullet in their arm. and the firing stopped, and i had a look from over the fence and there was one guy changing the gun and taking a further gun because he parked on this side, driving next to the mosque house. and he just take the gun and the firing stopped again, you know. —— started again. nadia tolich is content director at radio station newstalk zb and is coordinating their coverage

from their newsroom in auckland. thank you forjoining us. given the chaos, the shootings at different sites, the terrible loss of life and a lockdown in the city of christchurch as well, this is quite a task simply to manage to report it. it is quite simply a horrendous event here in new zealand. the prime minister, jacinda ardern, has described it as one of the darkest days for new zealand, one of the worst events i have had to cover. a9 people have tragically died in this horrendous attack on two mosques. a p pa re ntly horrendous attack on two mosques. apparently families are waiting for any news to see whether or not their loved ones are alive, wailing and crying can be heard at the hospital.

it is truly a terrible day for new zealand. our terror level is at the highest it has ever been. all authorities are on full alert. we do believe now that the situation has been brought under control by authorities but, needless to say, more than 1000 police officers are currently on the scene in christchurch trying to contain any further activity. we are looking at pictures of ambulances arriving at the main hospitals. there were some a0 or 50 people they were treated for gunshot wounds. we have heard cou ntless for gunshot wounds. we have heard countless tales of extraordinary a cts countless tales of extraordinary acts by individuals trying to pick people up and get them to hospital quickly. lots of praise of the police as well. also anxiety that, in the lockdown, some of them could not even get to the hospital. they we re not even get to the hospital. they were stuck with their wounded passenger and nowhere to go. the accou nts

passenger and nowhere to go. the accounts had been absolutely horrendous. one gentleman called the radio today and said he ran in as soon as the terror attack at the first jacinda ardern had soon as the terror attack at the firstjacinda ardern had finished, trying to assist people. someone was yelling out asking for help with a dying child in their arms. —— is back at the first mosque. another gentleman told us how he was stuck ina gentleman told us how he was stuck in a bathroom, hearing everything that was going on. he said they were murderers, worse than terrorists. he said they had hatred in our hearts. we now know also the first attack was actually live streamed. i have seen this video and i urge others not to watch it because it was one of the most terrifying things i have seenin of the most terrifying things i have seen in my life. a lot of my

collea g u es seen in my life. a lot of my colleagues were truly traumatised in watching it. there were delays. i understand the police arrived at the first seen about 20 minutes after the first call was made. they would have had to be cautious. we have since learned there have also been bombs all explosive devices planted as well. it is a pretty grim situation for the police to deal with. one of the devices has been dealt with according to the police commissioner. there were four people arrested. we still wait to work out whether they were related to this incident or not. it seems confusing. one thing that is clear, none of those who had been picked up was on a security watch list, not one. that is raising a lot of questions in new zealand. absolutely. already i have

seen, early on in the piece, we were looking at a twitter account that was connected so it seemed to somebody. there were extreme visual pictures on their dead bodies, hate messages. there were pictures of body body armour and automatic weapons and certainly those are the weapons and certainly those are the weapons apparently that you can see in the video. this person was active on social media for more than a month before this incident. he uploaded glad the alleged offender uploaded, a manifesto, and atr to page document outlining the reasons he did this. it was filled with hate. —— and 80 odd page. he labels himself as an australian who has chosen new zealand because new zealand is not home to any terror and picked out as a soft target. it

is astounding it was not picked up, it truly is. you are absolutely right. police commissioner mike birch, one of the first questions he was asked this evening is, how are these people not on a watchlist? —— bush. the same could be asked of the authorities. that person in their late 20s has been charged with murder and will be appearing in court tomorrow morning. thank you. saba afzel is a representative at the muslim association of taranaki in aukland new zealand. thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. some truly chilling details related by witnesses to the report and we just spoke to. what words do you have for this horrendous terror attack?”

guess this is one of the situations which is beyond words. disbelief and devastation. we are all heartbroken because it is such a beautiful and peaceful place and we generally feel very welcome in new zealand. it is the last place we would have expected something like this to happen. it seems according to what the person who has been charged with murder, what he has said, that is one of the reasons why he selected new zealand for this cold—blooded attack because it was not home to any terror. can you give our readers any terror. can you give our readers a sense of what community relations are like for people of different faiths in new zealand? generally speaking it is a peaceful country. we are always going to see a trickle—down effect from hatred and bigotry and islamophobia being spewed by world leaders. repeated

bias in media coverage. this narrative of ugliness affects people in new zealand as well. we are not immune to problems around the world. 0f immune to problems around the world. of course it was going to affect people. on the surface of a people are welcoming and very kind. no country is immune from racism and those sorts of things that we never imagined it would be to this effect of this gravity, honestly. watmore are hearing in terms of what unfolded at the two mosques, as people began their friday prayers? we are hearing personal accounts from media coverage. we have had back that a family friend of ours did not make it out alive. we had stories of friends of our friends who were shot and others who were

praying at the time and they managed to escape somehow and jump over a fence and go to neighbours. it is horrific there were children and women who wear theirfull horrific there were children and women who wear their full prayer. it is something that we are in a state of disbelief at the moment. —— who we re of disbelief at the moment. —— who were there for prayer. what will you be doing to reach out to people and try to help the community in christchurch? we are a small regional association. we are part of a big new zealand community and we will be trying to focus on fundraising efforts and prayers. we have had an outpouring of love and support from the wider community in new zealand and all people. that is really heart—warming. i am sure we will be able to come up with

something but there is not much we can do obviously in terms of the victims other than of her prayers and support. we hope the government and support. we hope the government and others can assist the families of those affected. on a grassroots level we will try to fund raise and collect donations for those affected by this atrocity. this is a time for people to come together, irrespective of religion. we have had statements from the archbishop, going around the region. we have had reports from the community with people wanting to hold candlelight vigils and marches of support in solidarity. that is heart—warming. these circumstances, you do not really wa nt these circumstances, you do not really want this to happen for that solidarity and support to come about. it is a horrible situation.

thank you for talking to us today. just to confirm, they police in new zealand did say one man has been charged with murder. he did not give the name but said he was in his late 20s. the main suspect is being widely named as brenton tarrant, a 28—year—old from australia. it's believed he is the person who livestreamed himself opening fire at a mosque in christchurch. he had also posted a manifesto online expressing extreme, white—supremacist views. worries were razed to the commissioner about this individual. the point they became aware of him was when he was posting the live stream. our correspondent phil mercer is following developments from sydney in australia.

the police commissioner in new zealand saying that police would be looking to see if they had missed any opportunities to prevent this, given that the suspect is australian. australian police will also be doing the same, presumably. that is right. both security services in australia and across the tasman sea say this 28—year—old suspect was not on their radar and they have no knowledge of him before they have no knowledge of him before the terrible events today in the city of christchurch. there will be a forensic investigation to determine whether mistakes were made or whether police were next that he would had to say that tracking everybody with extremist sympathies in countries like australia and new zealand would be an enormous, in fa ct zealand would be an enormous, in fact probably impossible, task for

the authorities. what they will be doing is they will be looking to see if they can learn from theirs to see if they can learn from theirs to see if these sorts of things, these sorts of people, can be caught in the future. this will be an enormous investigation. this man, 28 years of age, we understand, has been charged with murder and he is due in court in christchurch on saturday morning. i guess they know are ready they will be under intense scrutiny in terms of what they did and did not know. they have already said they will work closely with the authorities in new zealand. what can they do? australian police and the intelligence services in australia have had a long history in recent yea rs of have had a long history in recent years of carrying out counterterrorism raids and thwarting that we understand, quite a few potential attacks on targets here in australia. that wealth of knowledge, you would imagine that would be very

useful to the authorities in new zealand. new zealand of course has never experienced anything like this. the city of christchurch ensured that terrible earthquake in 2011 that killed 185 people. the city is still recovering from that. the trauma today is very different. i think it is safe to say the blood that has been spelt in new zealand today could probably change the country for good for ever and that is certainly that there for many new zealanders. they will be an utter shock at the events that have unfolded in the city of christchurch today. is anything more known at this stage about this aspect that has widely been reported by the name brenton tarrant, and how long he had beenin brenton tarrant, and how long he had been in new zealand? we do not know. he has published a manifesto online

that has all sorts of ramblings, regarding white supremacy is an anti—immigration sentiment. we do now as well that three other people remain in custody, two men and women, investigators in new zealand saying they are not sure if any of those suspects were involved in the terrible events at the two mosques in christchurch today. a9 people had died and over 20 people are seriously ill. the main hospital in christchurch has had a dozen operating theatres in use tonight because at the number of casualties taken their because of the severity of their injuries. thank you very much, keeping across the very strong australian connection now to the attacks in christchurch. just to bring you up—to—date on what we know has happened, there have been gun

attacks on two mosques, on either side of the town. this is christchurch, in the south island of new zealand. we can zoom in to get a sense of the distance between them. it raises questions itself as to who was aware at the time the attacks took place. the al noor mosque and linwood mosque were both attacked and there was also a lot of shooting outside the al noor mosque. the upshot of which, we know that a9 people had been killed and there are a good number still suffering from serious gunshot wounds and we are waiting for an update on the condition of many of those. it is a situation that happened about lunchtime in christchurch and led to a lockdown of the city. schools were shut down, children could not get

home until at least tea—time so anxious times for everybody across the city and you can imagine the sense of shock that people in christchurch have been expressing. they have expressed both shock and dismay over the incident. our hearts arejust breaking for them. it is so sad. it should not happen in our country. they should be safe to pray. i am getting angrier. it has gone from shock and i am getting angry. very indignant. everyone should feel safe to pray however they want. it is unbelievable. we need to be embracing of each other. we need to be reaching out, checking on our neighbours. whether they are foreign or not, we need to be reaching out to each other. there is no tolerance for this in our society.

it has been widely reported that the main suspect charged with that is 28—year—old brenton tarrant who had a p pa re ntly 28—year—old brenton tarrant who had apparently rubbished something he called a manifesto which was full of anti—muslim and anti—immigrant sentiment. he entered the al noor mosque, we understand, dressed in military type clothing. we don't know if the same suspect was also at the linwood mosque, the police have not clarified that. they say that three other people were apprehended and at least one of them, they believe, had nothing to do with the terror attacks but they are working to understand, that is the phrase they used, what connection, if any, they used, what connection, if any, the other two people apprehended had with the attacks. obviously many eyewitnesses because there were so many people around at the time. carl penney is a christchurch resident. he was under lockdown but has been reunited with his family. a short time ago, he told

me what it was like. i worked near one of the mosques, the linwood avenue mosque. what happened was, i was working away. it was quite busy so i had a late lunch andi was quite busy so i had a late lunch and i was about to walk out to get a bite. my work colleague took a phone call and i was about to open the door and she said, are you going to lunch, isaid door and she said, are you going to lunch, i said yes and she said, don't leave the building, someone has been shot. i thought she was kind ofjoking at has been shot. i thought she was kind of joking at first has been shot. i thought she was kind ofjoking at first because obviously that is not normal. then, when i looked at herface, you could tell she was serious. anyway... take your time. so i thought, that's a

strange. and what happened was some of our work colleagues in a call centre were out on lunch as well and there was a guy shot in the leg. they helped him into the pharmacy, which is next door to us. while they we re which is next door to us. while they were attending to him, they rang one of the other people, they rang us to say that somebody had been shot, lock your doors. that is what we did. we were still thinking this was a bit strange. then we got communications from our management saying there has been a terrorist attack, or people had been shot and this was serious. we were told to go upstairs, don't go near the windows. that is where we stayed. we didn't

really know what was going on so we we re really know what was going on so we were on the internet. one of my friends, who is a policeman, i messaged him to say we were on looked at —— on a lockdown, is this series. he said, can't talk, very serious, listen to what you've been told. —— is this serious. serious, listen to what you've been told. -- is this serious. how long we re told. -- is this serious. how long were you effectively in lockdown for? we were locked down from about a quarter to two, until about 20 past five. at 20 past five we had police come in and they knocked on our office door and said, guys, you can go, go straight home, and they escorted us to our cars. you are obviously aware that there had been a shooting but we have become aware

in the last hour of this tragedy, this massacre. i cannot imagine how overwhelming that must feel. i'm just totally gutted. you know, new zealand, it's a small place, it's known for its friendliness, that's what i think, anyway. and now you've got a1 people confirmed dead and a8 in hospital and you've got 20 people that are in critical condition. you're looking at 60—something people. this is unprecedented for our country. i just can't people. this is unprecedented for our country. ijust can't believe it. when i was growing up in the 90s, there were 13 people, 1a including the gunman and that pales into comparison with this. one of

the people but at the other thing that came through, we got a streamed video saying this is serious and might work colleague streamed the actual video of this guy doing this. i have seen that and undisturbed. i don't know if you have seen it... cani don't know if you have seen it... can ijust don't know if you have seen it... can i just take this don't know if you have seen it... can ijust take this opportunity because that has been out there on the web, as you know, and pulled down many times but you are saying you are disturbed about it. ijust wa nt you are disturbed about it. ijust want you to tell people who are thinking, who know it's there, why they shouldn't go there. you do not wa nt to they shouldn't go there. you do not want to watch that. it is glorifying a person that is just pure evil. you look at it and it's just... he a person that is just pure evil. you look at it and it'sjust... he has the gopro camera on his head, he is

in army fatigues, he has three what looks like ar15s. as soon as he finishes a clip he gets another one and puts it in. it tells enough of the message i think, you have made that very clear and thank you for that. we can hearfrom that very clear and thank you for that. we can hear from this interview, you are obviously deeply shaken and disturbed by this. i suppose in one sense you represent a nation. well... this is not what new zealand stands for and not what any good spirited person does. what can i say? it is just evil in the world and he is sick. i want to put this out there because they have been people criticising the police, but in my mind they did a fantasticjob.

they reacted as quick as they could. that was carl penney talked about the attacks. a lot of reaction on twitter condemning the attacks and offering support and sympathy. jacinda ardern, new zealand's prime minister, tweeted to say... theresa may tweeted to say... european council president donald tusk said...

pakistan's prime minister, imran khan, wrote... we can heara we can hear a bit more of what the prime minister, jacinda ardern, has been saying. she is on her way to christchurch to talk to the emergency services. before leaving, she gave this update security measures from the capital, wellington. while we do not have any reason to believe at this stage that there are any other suspects, we are not assuming that at this stage. thejoint intelligence group has been deployed and police are putting all of their resources

into this situation. the defence force are currently transporting additional police staff to the region. our national security threat level has been lifted from low to high. this, i want to assure people, is to ensure that all our agencies are responding in the most appropriate way. that includes at our borders. many of you will have seen that air new zealand has cancelled all turboprop flights out of christchurch tonight and will review the situation in the morning. jet services, both domestically and internationally, are continuing to operate. i say again, there is a heightened security. that is, of course, so we can assure people of their safety and the police are working hard to ensure that people are able to move around their city safely. i have spoken this evening to the mayor of christchurch and i intend to speak this evening

to the imam. but i also want to send a message to those directly affected. in fact, i'm sure right now new zealand would like me to share a message on their behalf, too. our thoughts and our prayers are with those who have been impacted today. christchurch was the home of these victims. for many, this may not have been the place they were born. in fact, for many, new zealand was their choice, the place they actively came to and committed themselves to. the place they were raising their families, where they were part of communities that they loved and who loved them. it was a place that many came to for its safety. a place where they were free to practice their culture and their religion. for those of you who are watching at home tonight and questioning how this could have happened here,

we, new zealand, we were not a target because we are a safe harbour for those who hate. we were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we are an enclave for extremism. we were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things. because we represent diversity, kindness, compassion, a home for those who share our values, refuge for those who need it. and those values, i can assure you, will not and cannot be shaken by this attack. we are a proud nation of more than 200 ethnicities, 160 languages and, amongst that diversity, we share common values. and the one that we place the currency on right now and tonight is our compassion

and the support for the community of those directly affected by this tragedy. and secondly, the strongest possible condemnation of the ideology of the people who did this. you may have chosen us, but we utterly reject and condemn you. very firm words from jacinda ardern. it isa very firm words from jacinda ardern. it is a vast number of people affected, given that a9 people have lost their lives, a8 have been taken to hospital with gunshot wounds, and still in very serious condition. and all the people who were in the areas at the time of the shooting. earlier i spoke to eyewitness carl pomare who was driving past one of the mosques with his colleague when they saw people running towards them. i was driving just outside and i saw

lots of people running outside the mosque. and they were running for their lives. i said to my work colleague, something is happening here. and the next second there was rapid—fire and it wasn't fireworks, it was a semiautomatic rifle. and these people were being knocked down like ten pins, right opposite where i was driving. i saw the thing happen from behind. and they were falling to the ground. very surreal and it's like, ok, what do we do now? so i stopped my vehicle about a hundred metres up the road and we decided, ok, what are we going to do, we need to go back and help these guys so we parked up and set up a cordon with another car who was luckily another contractor so we managed to secure that end of the road. we tried to help people. my co—worker, he assisted the first person we sort lying on the footpath.

there were no sirens, no police, no ambulance because it had just happened. for ten minutes there was no other outside assistance apart from the people who were just there, probably no more than six people, all civilians, helping these people lying on the ground, fighting for their lives. it wasn't until about 15 minutes later the armed offenders came in. the police couldn't come in until the armed offenders came in and then the ambulance couldn't come in until they had secured the area. people were begging our help, to take them to the hospital, but we couldn't because the ambulances weren't allowed in. in the end, we made a call to get a father and his daughter who were both hit, the daughter was critical, we got her into a car and we managed to get her out pretty quickly with the father. we don't know whether they survived. the gentleman who my co—worker was supporting, he passed away in his arms, sadly, after about 30 minutes. it was a scene of carnage.

we were there for a good part of the 15, 20 minutes, just us civilians helping these people as much as we could until more support came in. everything you have described there, carl, was outside the mosque, so these were people being gunned down in the streets in the outdoors? that is correct. what i can add from that is that the gunman had already been into the mosque and he was coming out and following people who were running away from the mosque and shooting them as they were running away in the back. i saw them fall, hit the ground, as we were driving past. we heard more rounds, probably about ten rounds within another minute. as soon as we started going into the area we heard another ten rounds and we all had to duck down. a few seconds later, there was probably another

four or five rounds. we didn't know where the gunman was. my colleague saw the gunman, he had come out onto the footpath and he saw him shooting into the car park area but he wasn't, thankfully, shooting towards the people who were already injured on the footpath. then he ducked away, we didn't see him again. it is an extraordinarily brave thing to do, to stop in the midst of all that, i don't suppose that even crossed your mind at the time, more of a knee jerk reaction of what you knew you had to do. yes, we didn't see a gunman, we just saw people lying on the footpath injured and we decided we need to go back and help these guys. the first thing we did was set up a cordon and help the people inside the cordon. maybe six or seven of us helping these people as much as we could. for the limited time we had until help arrived. but sadly, you know, the police cannot come in until armed offenders come in and the ambulance can't come in until the area is secure so there was a waiting game. you are trying to keep people alive while you're waiting for the ambulance to come

and finally they did come. but for some people, sadly, it was too late. a very vivid account from carl who put his own life on the line, as did a number of others who were helping however they could and honestly some did not make it. we have some pictures to show you which we have been sent. these pictures, filmed from a passing car, show police detaining a person after trapping their car. it looks like the police car had made contact with the other car. they pull them out of the car, guns trained on an individual as he is brought to the ground by the officers and then the view is

somewhat obscured. clearly they are detaining someone. what is not clear, we have not had exact clarification from the police, if the person responsible for the shooting, the terror attack at the al noor mosque, is the same person responsible for the shooting at the linwood mosque. we note from witnesses that the shooting at the al noor mosque went on for quite a long time and the other one is three miles away. we don't know if it was possible from one person to get to one mosque to another. so many imponderables. and of those apprehended, the police commissioner said it was not clear that they were related to the man who has been charged with the murder in terms of what they were doing. they were carrying firearms, he said, but he could not be sure they were related to the incident they have been dealing with, this dreadful case which has befallen christchurch.

let's hear now from an eyewitness — a woman who was driving near one of the mosques at the time of the shooting. and i heard and saw what i thought were firecrackers and i saw young fellas running down the street. and all of a sudden, it got quite violent. i thought, that's not firecrackers. and they started falling. and one felljust to the left of my car and one fell to the right and... for a few minutes i stopped the car in shock and i leaned either way, i'm not sure, across the seats to try and avoid getting shot. and apparently a bullet went sailing over my car and struck the one in the back. and he's all right, the guy, he was very good. and we pulled up and i opened up my doors, or my driver's door, and got out and the guy in the black commodore, whatever it was, came up and said, are you all right? isaid, yeah, i'm good, i haven't been shot. and the poor hugger lying on the verge had

been shot in the back. i opened my passenger's door and my driver's door and we pulled him round behind and then opened up the back as well to give us some protection. and he had a first aid kit and he crouched and ran all the way back to get it. and he lifted up his shirt and he dressed it and i put the pressure on. and then a nice muslim guy came and gave me some help as well because you have to put quite a bit of pressure on and my poor old hands were shaking that hard, i was scared i wouldn't be able to do a good job. and the worst thing was, we could hear the ambulances but they couldn't get to us. and then a nice guy on the other side, who was on the other side, he put three people in his car and took them to hospital. and the guy on the street, he was trying to ring his wife, that i heard, and the other guy could see, he was in bad shape but i couldn't get to him because that was where directly the gunfire was coming from. and...

and the guy i was compressing, he was trying to ring his wife. i managed to get it and i answered the phone and i said to her, your husband's been shot outside the mosque. don't come here to deans ave, you won't get through, but please go to the hospital and wait for him. then i kept talking to him and telling him that she was at the hospital waiting and he wasn't to give up and we kept pressure on and did the best we could for him until we got him some help. and in the meantime, the poor guy across the road passed away. we are continuing to absorb news of these terror attacks in christchurch, new zealand. two mosques, the al noor mosque and the linwood mosque, a9 people are dead and at least 20 have been injured. one man has been charged with murder and he will appear in court in the morning, that is christchurch time. you are watching bbc news.

good morning. another blustery day for many of us across the uk but it is set to turn stormier as we go into the weekend. we have this whole ribbon of cloud out into the atlantic. it is pushing its way eastward across the uk at the moment. with that, some weather fronts continuing to push their way in. one cold front moving south as we go through this morning. that is giving outbreaks of rain with quite a bit of cloud. it will stay cloudy with some patchy rain across the south, especially the south—west this afternoon. further north, there will be some sunny spells developing. one or two showers as well. those showers could be wintry over the ground in scotland and strong and gusty winds, especially in the east of england. maximum temperatures

about 7, 8 celsius. northern areas, 13, 1a degrees across the south. for tonight, this rain will reintensify as it moves its way further north and east. there will be hill snow as well. temperatures no lower than 9, 10 in the south but chillierfurther north, with a touch of frost. the difference in the temperatures is this weather system moving in with mild air in the south and colder air in the north. this area of low pressure moving in to bring wet and windy weather. as it meets the colder air in the north, it will bring significant snowfall across scotland. in many high grounds but down to some low levels we could get snowfall. quite heavy rain across wales, northern england. staying dry in the south. strong and gusty winds for many, especially england and wales with gusts of 50, 60 miles an hour. strong and gusty winds to northern areas where it will feel quite chilly during saturday. temperatures a, 5 celsius. for england and wales, however, on the milder side,

temperatures about 10, 13 degrees. the mild air will be pushed away into sunday. the cold front moving its way through. the low pressure moving out into the north sea. we are left with a brisk north—westerly wind which will bring sunshine across many parts and also a few showers which could be on the wintry side, mainly over the higher ground during sunday. a chilly a day for england and wales with temperatures down to 9, 10 celsius. temperatures going up a little bit in the north, by 7 to 9 degrees. as we go into next week it will turn a little bit milder, a bit quieter as well with higher pressure developing. goodbye.