At Least 40 People Are Dead, 20 Other Seriously Injured In What New Zealand's Prime Minister Says Is Her Country's Darkest Day. 
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST, CNN: I am Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong with continuing coverage of the breaking news from Christchurch, New Zealand. At least 40 people are dead, 20 other seriously injured in what New Zealand's Prime Minister says is her country's darkest day. A gunman opened fire on to mosques in the city of Christchurch this day during Friday prayers. Young children are among the 48 wounded. Three individuals previously unknown to police and intelligence are now in custody and families, they are waiting in agony for news about their loved ones. One mother says that she dropped her son off at the Al Noor mosque and went around the back to park, then she shared gunshots and she saw people running.</s>ROSEMARY OMAR, WAITING FOR NEWS ABOUT HER SON: I drove past the mosque and there were a lot of bodies outside, so we've just been waiting here in the scene just to see if our son is all right, but he's not answering his phone.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've not heard anything from him?</s>OMAR: No contacts at all.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the police or your son?</s>OMAR: No. I just feel quite deep, to be honest, quite numb. I don't know. I've just been sort of so absolutely leaden and I have gone sort of the other way, so yes, it's been really dreadful.</s>LU STOUT: Police say that these attacks were heavily premeditated. In fact, they found IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- attached to several vehicles that they stopped. One gunman was wearing a body cam and livestreamed all the violence, the Grizzly violence in social media and police are imploring people to stop sharing this extremely distressing and graphic footage. The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern described the attack as quote, "an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence."</s>JACINDA ARDEN, PRIME MINISTER, NEW ZEALAND: Our thoughts and our prayers 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 Zealanders, it was their choice -- a place they actively came to and committed themselves to, the place they were raising the 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 harbor for those who hate, we were not chosen for this act of violence because we condone racism, because we're an enclave for extremism. We were chosen for the very fact that we are none of these things.</s>LU STOUT: Jacinda Ardern speaking there. Matt Rivers has been tracking developments. He joins us now live. And Matt, we're getting more clarity from officials including, of course, the Prime Minister of New Zealand about the horrific scale of today's shootings. MATT RIVERS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN Yes, Kristie, it really is a horrific attack in Christchurch. You know, the Prime Minister went on shortly after those remarks you just played, the next thing she says was that the attackers may have chosen New Zealand, but New Zealand quote, "utterly condemns and rejects you." So very strong words there, and rightly so from the Prime Minister. As you mentioned, Kristie, 40 people have been killed so far, 30 of whom were killed in one mosque, 10 of them were killed in another in joint attacks. They're happening right around the same time. IEDs were attached to the vehicles that were used in these attacks. According to the Prime Minister, the police were able to safely get rid of those IEDS to make sure that they weren't harmful, but you can only imagine how terrible even more so these attacks could be where those IEDs able to be detonated. But of course, this is ongoing, this investigation right now, the Prime Minister saying three suspects are in custody at this point. Earlier, the police commissioner said that there was another woman who was in custody who is not connected to these attacks so what the Prime Minister is saying here, three suspects now in custody, but they are still advising people in Christchurch, you know, to stay home to just chat with loved ones, but to not go visit one another. They are making sure that people remain safe by not opening their doors. The Prime Minister said that while they don't believe people have anything to fear, everything is of course, they're quite tense, Kristie. And then the other thing of course is about these suspects, three of whom are again in custody. One of them as you mentioned, livestreamed this attack. The video as we will explain later in the show is just horrific to watch. And we will get into more detail about that later on.</s>RIVERS: But we know one of the suspects in a social media account that purportedly belongs to him, wrote an 87-page manifesto that is filled with anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim ideas, and explanations for this attack, so overall --</s>LU STOUT: Matt, I am going to have to stop you there, unfortunately because know that there's a police conference that's taking place right now in Christchurch. We're going to have to go to that right now.</s>MIKE BUSH, NEW ZEALAND POLICE COMMISSIONER: I want to give some more clarity about the number of people who have tragically lost their lives. At the Deans Avenue mosque, we now know that 41 people have lost their lives. And at the Lynwood mosque, seven have lost their lives. Of the 40 people who have been treated at Christchurch Hospital, one has now passed. So the total number of people have died in this horrendous event are 49 and our hearts go out to them and all of their family, all of their friends, all of the 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 that people can contact us to get more information about those who have died and some surrounding circumstance. 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 through to understand what their involvement is. We have recovered a number of firearms from both of the scenes, Lynwood 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 Defense Force are doing everything they can to keep our community safe. We have had no other threats since we responded to this incident. We are working with a wide range of community to give support to everyone who needs it. We have staff around the country, ensuring that everyone is kept safe and that includes our armed defenders and special tactics groups right across the country, being very vigilant and having a presence around all of our mosques to ensure nothing further occurs. As I said, this is an evolving situation, we will continue to bring you as much information as we possibly can. I will answer your questions in a minute, if I can have it. But before I do, I would like to communicate the 0800 number for people to call for more information, especially around their loved ones. And that number is 0800-115-019. I would also like to commend and some of you would have seen the brave actions on social media of police staff who responded to this incident. They have gone above and beyond on behalf of their communities to apprehend at least one of these offenders. So I take my hat off to all of my staff. I'm extremely proud of what they've done tonight. Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why were these people not on a security watch list? Were they completely unknown to police?</s>BUSH: So that's a very good question. What I want to tell you right now is that we had -- no agency had any information about these people and I can also tell you that I've been in contact with my Australian colleagues. They have no information on them at all either and they are assisting with our inquiries. But I can also add that part of our investigation will be to look back at every possibility to ensure that we, law enforcement and security didn't miss any opportunities to prevent this horrendous event.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who carried out the shootings at the Deans Avenue mosque? Was it the same person as who carried out the shootings at Lynwood?</s>BUSH: Look, I would love to go into detail. But a person has been charged. For me to now go into details of who did what would not be proper.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the person charged Brendan Tarrant?</s>BUSH: Again, I know there is a name within the public domain, but it would be improper for me now to confirm that because a person has been challenged.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a threat on Facebook on a Facebook page made (inaudible), are you aware of that so that police had an early warning of this attack?</s>BUSH: I'm aware of that suggestion, which we're working through at the moment. We now have absolute clarity about that, I'll be sharing that, so I'm only aware of the suggestion, I'm not aware of it actually existing, but if it did, I'll be sharing that fact.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you actively searching for any other suspect at the moment?</s>BUSH: We never assume that there aren't other people involved. That's why we've got an immense presence out there across Canterbury, and right across New Zealand, but we don't have named or identified people that we are looking for, but it will be wrong to assume that there is no one else.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're not actively looking for any shooter at this stage?</s>BUSH: At this point, we are not actively looking for any identified persons.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many days, weeks, months in the planning do you think this attack was?</s>BUSH: Look, I couldn't tell you, but I think I don't need to tell you this is a very well-planned event.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were there explosives on the body of one of the attackers?</s>BUSH: So I'm aware of that commentary as well. What I can say is that that person may have suggested that. We have eliminated that as a possibility. There was not. We've also talked about EID devices on two vehicles. I'd like to clarify that and say that they were possibly two IEDs on one vehicle and we've disabled one and we're in the process of disabling the other with the assistance of the Defense Force.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could controlled explosions (inaudible) have anything to do with this investigation?</s>BUSH: We believe not, but of course, there's a real heightened sense within the communities. People are being very vigilant and I congratulate them and encourage that. But we have dealt with two bags that were left at Britomart, they are being detonated. We don't believe they were of any threat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You spoke about increased police visibility among the mosques of New Zealand, do you consider that this could be coordinated? Is there a potential -- it could that there could be others (inaudible) ...</s>BUSH: We don't have any information to that extent. But it's always important to take preventative precautions and that's exactly what we're doing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was Christchurch Hospital (inaudible).</s>BUSH: No, I think there was some early reporting of that. But I was confused with the fact that 40 people were taken there very quickly for emergency medical treatment. It was not targeted.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, (inaudible) mosques (inaudible) also synagogues? Does it also apply to synagogues (inaudible).</s>BUSH: I'm not aware of that advice. But we're giving everyone advice to be very vigilant and take care of yourselves and report anything that you might find suspicious to us so that we can respond immediately.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was there intel that (inaudible) that there could have been an attack planned on St. Patrick's Day?</s>BUSH: I don't have any intelligence to that effect.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you had some (inaudible) to what's happened -- what's happened in (inaudible) anything else in the transcripts --</s>BUSH: I don't have any intelligence to that effect. I'm not ruling anything out. We have our eyes wide open on this. We're being extremely vigilant in terms of any possibilities, and that's what we want to ensure the public that we are right on top of.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many police are currently (inaudible) Christchurch?</s>BUSH: Well, I have a -- they have a force of over 1,000. We're sending more. They should be there from Wellington now surrounding districts. We're sending staff, I would imagine that every one of those 1,000 staff wanting to help out on this cooperation.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Prime Minister said that the perpetrator had extremists views (inaudible). How did the police -- how was he not or she not (inaudible)?</s>BUSH: Well, I think what the Prime Minister was referring to was what was a published post 1:33 p.m. this afternoon.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.</s>BUSH: Thank you very much. Thank you.</s>LU STOUT: You've been listening live to the New Zealand police commissioner. He has updated the death toll from today's mosque shooting saying that the total number of people who have died in the shootings is now 49, a grizzly upgrade from 40 to now 49 people dead as result of the shootings today in Christchurch. The Police Commissioner also added that a male and his late 20s has been charged with murder and should appear in court in Christchurch tomorrow morning. He added that three others have been apprehended, one was armed and had nothing to do with the incident, two others apprehended for being armed in the general environment, not known to law enforcement. Now, we know Matt Rivers has been monitoring this press conference as well and he joins us now and Matt, just this grizzly death toll and an already horrific number has risen further.</s>RIVERS: Yes, Kristie, and what we always see in these kinds of situations that they do unfold and details do trickle out, so what we know an hour ago, you know, it changes hour after hour, especially in scenes and in attacks like these that were just so widespread. I mean, you heard the Prime Minister herself talk about the scale. So let's drill down a little bit more into the details here. As you mentioned, 49 people now confirmed dead, 41 of them, according to the Police Commissioner were killed at a mosque on Deans Avenue in Christchurch and other seven at the mosque at Lynwood Avenue. And of the 40 people that were being treated at Christchurch hospital, we know that one of them has died so far. And given the amount of people that have remained at the hospital, Kristie, it remains the possibility that this death toll could go up further. Now getting into the suspects here. One person according to the Police Commissioner in his late 20s, a white male charged with murder, he will appear in court tomorrow morning. Interestingly, the Police Commissioner would not give the identity of that male saying it would be improper at this time to do so given that he has been charged, he would not confirm if it was the same male that we have seen in a video that was livestreamed of this attack that has made its rounds across the internet that CNN is choosing not to show. Three other people had been apprehended. Of those three, one, according to the Police Commissioner, although he had weapons on him, or that person had weapons on him had nothing to do with the attack. The other two, they are still trying to figure out what they were doing in the vicinity of these attacks with weapons on them. No other threats according to the Commissioner have been registered so far, they are not actively searching for other suspects. But they do say they remain vigilant not only in Christchurch, but also across New Zealand at this point. He would not confirm if the attacks at both mosques were carried out by the same individual. He was saying basically, one person has been charged with murder so far, but he wouldn't go into detail about the attacks at two different mosques that resulted in the deaths of 49 people so far have been carried out by the same person. And finally, Kristie, he went into IED situation. We had been reporting earlier today, the New Zealand Police had found IEDs on a couple of different vehicles that might have been involved in these attacks. The Police Commissioner clarified earlier statement saying that two IEDs were found on one vehicle involved in the attack. So you can see here the details are changing. They are evolving. What we are saying right now could be different in an hour. And it just drives home the point that yes, this attack is over. But the investigation, Kristie, has only really just begun.</s>LU STOUT: The investigation has only just begun, but we're getting more details with the Police Commissioner of New Zealand, details as you ran through just then on the death toll, which has risen to 49 on the suspects, on the IED, also on the threat level. The Police Commissioner saying that he knows of no other threats since responding to these incidents earlier today. We know that Christchurch has been in lock down as a result of these shootings. The lockdown was lifted for the schools, but it's a very different situation from mosques in New Zealand, in Christchurch and across the nation, isn't it?</s>RIVERS: Absolutely, without question, and you can only imagine what people there would be feeling at this point. I mean, the threat level, the sense and vulnerability and especially because this video of the attack made its rounds. This video is callous to say the least. It is horrific to watch. We'll go into that more in our show later. Although we are not choosing to show that video. And it would absolutely strike fear in anyone who watched it, not only the Muslim community. But you know, you heard the Prime Minister of New Zealand talk about the immigration policy in a country like New Zealand, it prides itself on welcoming people, welcoming immigrants from around the world, including the Muslim community, encouraging people to go there and live and raise their families. And what you heard from the Prime Minister is that people choose to do so. They choose New Zealand to go do that, and I think it would elicit, you know, a lot of fear amongst people in New Zealand. You can just imagine what that would be like, and that's something that they're dealing with right now.</s>RIVERS: But what you heard from the Police Commissioner is that even though they say this active threat is over, they are increasing security across the country at mosques and other perhaps high value targets and they're going to do everything they can to reassure a population that would be understandably nervous in this moment that everything is okay. And it's not just in New Zealand, Kristie. We have heard from cities in the United States, ranging from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, other countries are doing the same thing. They are also stepping up patrols around mosques for fear of copycat attacks. And so that's what happens in these situations, you know, unfortunately, one attack that happens in a place like New Zealand can have reverberating effects across the world. Just a horrific day for the people of Christchurch.</s>LU STOUT: Yes, security being stepped up as a result of this horrific day, a day of unprecedented violence for New Zealand. Matt Rivers reporting. Thank you. And do stay with us for updates. We're going to bring you more live coverage of the worst mass shooting in the history of New Zealand.</s>LU STOUT: New Zealand police say 49 people are now dead in Christchurch. Scores of people injured, some critically after a gunman opened fire in two mosques there. Its Police Commissioner also says that a man in his 20s has been charged with murder and that he is set to appear in court, Saturday morning. Christchurch Hospital is treating nearly 60 patients right now with gunshot wounds, including young children and adults. Anna Coren is tracking developments here in Hong Kong. She joins us now and Anna, as we continue to get new updates from the police in New Zealand including this grimly updated death toll, in the background to all this is a video what we believe to be evidence of the shooting at one of these mosques. The police in New Zealand have urged to public not to share it. We have made that the decision at CNN not to share it. It is graphic. You watched the footage to understand what happened why so many lives were taken. What does it reveal?</s>ANNA COREN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Kristie, no one wants to watch this footage. It is absolutely horrendous. I have been reporting for many decades and I've never seen anything quite like this. You watch this gunman, an Australian citizen in New Zealand in Christchurch, wearing a helmet camera talking to himself driving to the mosque. He gets to the mosque. He gets out of the mosque. He gets his semi- automatic weapons. He has three in the front seat, one beside him. He walks to the back of the car, opens the booth there, there are another two semi-automatic weapons. There's magazines of ammunition. There are jerrycans with what we presume, is fuel. He then walks to the mosque carrying these two semi-automatic weapons and walks through the gates and starts firing. He then enters the mosque and mows down every single person in his path.</s>COREN: This continues for some minutes. You can hear people screaming, you can hear people moaning, crying out for help. He walks to a corridor, reloads, walks back out into the mosque, and you can see people trying to run. And he is just picking them off, just firing. He then walks out of the mosque, walks back to his car, or before he gets to his car, he's on the pavement, and he is randomly shooting in one direction. He turns shoots in another, just bystanders, people who have obviously come out because they've heard this rapid gunfire that's been going on for some minutes. He walks back to his car, gets more ammunition, walks back into the mosque, and all those people who are lying down, you don't know if they're dead or perhaps they playing dead trying to hide, hoping that this will soon be over. He walks up to each one of those people and at point blank range, he executes them. He then walks out of the mosque back to the pavement. He sees a woman in the distance, he shoots her. She falls. She is saying, "Help me. Help me." He walks over and once again at point blank range, he kills her. He then walks back into his car, and this is all calm. There is no urgency. It wouldn't seem that he is particularly bothered. He seems extremely calm, gets back in his car drives off. Next thing he's firing out of his windscreen. Next thing out of the passenger window just shooting randomly. You can hear the police sirens driving by on their way to the mosque. The shooting spree, I might add lasted a total of six minutes. He then drives, Kristie, to pedestrians crossing and stops. And these people just walk across. And he stops, beeps his horn and then drives off. Now we obviously heard from the New Zealand, the Police Commissioner, Mike Bush a short time ago and he mentioned that one man has been charged with murder -- mass murder -- you would have to presume that he is that Australian citizen. You would also have to presume that he drove from that mosque which was filmed that went live on the internet. He then drove to the next mosque and carried out more murders. This is a horrendous day for New Zealand. This is not what New Zealand is about. These are things that happen in the United States, not in New Zealand and it has just rocked the nation tonight.</s>LU STOUT: I'm sorry. I mean, just the fact that such an act of cold calculated brutality, mowing down dozens of people took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, a normally peaceful city. How are people there just reacting and making sense of this?</s>COREN: I would say that people in Christchurch across all of New Zealand would just be devastated. I mean, this is country of five million of people. They open the borders to migrants, they open their borders to Muslims, they have a very welcoming immigration policy. So we heard from the Prime Minister Jucinda Ardern earlier where she said, this is this is the home of migrants. This is the home of people who've come from war zones, who seek a sanctuary, a safe environment for their children to grow up in. This is not New Zealand, so she rejects it. She condemns this violence ideology. I think what is also really important to note is that these three men, they were not on any watch list. They were not known to law enforcement, not known to intelligence in New Zealand's or in Australia. So these are people who flew completely under the radar until 1:40 or 1:30 this afternoon New Zealand time at Friday press.</s>LU STOUT: Yes, not known to a lot enforcement until now, apprehended for being armed in the general environment in where these shootings took place. Anna Coren, we thank you for your reporting. You're watching CNN. And when we come back, we will hear from a man who witnessed how the devastating attack firsthand. More of our breaking news coverage straight ahead.</s>LU STOUT: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand. Now, police in New Zealand are urging people to stay off the streets and to avoid mosques in the coming hours after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. At least 49 people are dead, many others seriously wounded. This happened around 1:40 in the afternoon local time, the busiest day of the week for many mosques when worshipers gather for Friday prayers. One man who witnessed the shooting at Deans Avenue told reporters how he and others hid under cars and tried to jump the fence to escape.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard the firing and it was from the main entrance -- the main entrance of the building and then everybody just run to the back doors just to save themselves. We saw many injured, bullets in arms and everywhere. One woman lying there. She was just lying on the road and I don't know how many people died.</s>LU STOUT: CNN's Matt Rivers is tracking developments. He joins us again and Matt, in the last 30 minutes, you heard it live here on CNN updates from the New Zealand Police Commissioner about the suspects and the death toll.</s>RIVERS: Yes, absolutely. We're getting you know, this information coming in slowly, but surely, Kristie. We heard from the Prime Minister herself a bit before we heard from the Police Commissioner, and the facts keep getting worse. Frankly, 49 people now confirmed dead, 41 of whom according to the Police Commissioner were killed at a mosque on Deans Avenue in Christchurch, seven more killed at the mosque on Lynwood Avenue, and of the 40 people that were being treated at a hospital in Christchurch, one of them has died so far. Given though the amount of people in that hospital, we could very well see this death toll continue to rise. We just don't know, but it is already a horrific number, 49 people have been killed so far. As for the people who have committed these crimes, according to the Police Commissioner, one man, a white male in his late 20s, as he was described to the media has been charged with murder. He will appear likely in court tomorrow morning in New Zealand. Three others throughout the day today have been apprehended as a part of this investigation. According to the police commissioner, one of those people, although all three were carrying firearms or some sort of weapon and were in the vicinity of these attacks. It appears that one of the three had nothing to do with the incident. And police are still talking to the other two people to try and figure out that what they were doing in the area with weapons at the time. According to the police, no other threats at this moment. They're not actively looking for anyone else. But they stressed that they are very much maintaining vigilance not only in Christchurch, but around the country. They're also still working on disarming an IED that was found on one of the vehicles that was used in these attacks. Initially, we were told that they were IEDs on multiple vehicles, but police clarified that statement in this latest press conference, Kristie, saying that there were two IEDs found on one of the vehicles. One of them has been disarmed already. They are working on doing the other one. As for the two different attacks at the mosque, police will not confirm as of yet whether the attacks at both mosques were committed by the same individual. He said -- the Police Commissioner said it would be in proper to comment further at this time, given that one person has already been charged. He also wouldn't give us the ID of the person that had already been charged or say whether that was the same male ...</s>RIVERS: ... that was featured in a video that purports to show this attack, it was livestreamed, CNN is choosing not to show that video. It is horrific, and we are not choosing to show that video. However, we have seen it and the Police Commissioner said that he will not confirm whether the person in that video is the person that has been charged at this time. So that's the facts as we know them. Now, Kristie, one more thing to note, however, the person who has been charged and anyone else who has been apprehended, none of those people have been -- had appeared on a watch list either in New Zealand or in Australia at this point. So police say they had no prior warning that these attacks were coming.</s>LU STOUT: And Matt, warnings have been issued to members of the Muslim community in the wake of these attacks. What kind of warnings have police issue to the Islamic community in Christchurch and across New Zealand?</s>RIVERS: I mean, they're basically saying hunker down. They're basically saying, don't go visit one another, stay at home, keep doors locked, try and avoid the threat that could come with any sort of copycat attack. Now, again, police are not saying that they are anticipating other attacks, but they say it's never safe to assume anything. And so they are warning not only the Muslim community, but New Zealand at large to stay at home tonight, to not go visit family and friends, of course, to talk to one another to share their feelings about how they might be feeling about all of this, but to maybe stay indoors with doors locked until police feel that the situation overall is safe. Again, they're saying that there are not anticipating more attacks. They're not actively looking for more suspects. But it's just out of an abundance of caution it seems like at this point, and that message is being taken to heart across the world. We know that multiple cities in the United States from Minneapolis to Los Angeles have publicly said that they're going to step up patrols at their own mosques. And unfortunately, Kristie, when these kind of attacks happen, we do see that there can be copycat attacks afterwards. And so you're probably going to see beefed up security and a heightened sense of apprehension at mosques across the world and it is a horrific consequences of a horrific day and a horrific action. But that is the reality of the world that we live in, at least at this moment.</s>LU STOUT: And the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, she has been providing updates throughout the day. In addition to providing key information about the shooting, she has also been trying to console a nation that has been reeling in the back of these sickening attacks. What has been her message?</s>RIVERS: Her messages is that this is not New Zealand, that this is not the country that has had a history of welcoming immigrants recently. I mean, this is a country with an immigration policy that accepts people from around the world and that accepts members of the Muslim community and encourages them to live there and to raise their families. This is, you know, the words that she said is that the attacker or attackers, depending on how this shakes out, may have chosen New Zealand but that New Zealand utterly rejects these attacks. Those were her words in a press conference, you could see the emotion in her face. You can see her struggling with this as everyone in New Zealand likely is at this point, but her message is that this is not who we are, and that people should be compassionate to one another tonight, that people should bond together and that they should not let New Zealand's image, not let the character of the people of New Zealand be tarnished by these attacks. That this is not who New Zealand is.</s>LU STOUT: Yes, this is a moment of extreme crisis, loss and a moment for New Zealand to come together. Matt Rivers reporting. Thank you. Now, earlier my colleague George Howell spoke with a witness who was inside one of the mosques when the shooting started.</s>MOHAN IBN IBRAHIM, WITNESS TO MOSQUE SHOOTING (via phone): I was actually praying inside the mosque. Like I was just -- I was inside of the mosque and it is a big mosque and what happened like around 1:40 to 1:45, there was a -- like gunfire and sound was coming from the back side. Because I was inside. So what happened is, like, there's a barricade in the middle. So if somebody gets inside by using the main door, they have to come inside like for -- they have to walk like maybe one minute. So what happened is like there was -- and at that door, two doors on the left side and the right side. So when I heard that, like the sound is coming and I thought first of all, I thought maybe it's electric short circuit, something like that. And then, it was like continuously happening. So on the -- and on the right side, people were just coming out of the mosque by using that door on the right side door and we were just running towards the backside.</s>IBRAHIM: And there was -- a barricade was there while we had to jump out of the wall. And still, we were hearing the sound of the gun. It was continuously shooting for maybe 10 to 15 minutes. And later on, we used the backside and then came out on the other street. And since then, the police -- we called to the police and went to -- and when I came to the street, I saw that one person got shot on his chest and ambulance came and the police came there. Doctor was taking care of him. So that time, I went to live on Facebook to explain actually what is happening. And one more sad thing is like, it not only happened to this mosque. There's two mosques in the Christchurch area, in two suburbs, so one in Riccarton, Deans Avenue and I called to my other friends who went to prayer to the other mosque and we asked them, they said like, "The same thing happened here as well." And they told me like five people died out there in that mosque. And I have seen on my naked eyes, which is three people died, they were, like on the street and I couldn't contact two of my friends who are inside the mosque, as well. That's what I saw and later on, there are lots of police and ambulance came and they didn't allow us to go inside the mosque or to get close to it.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, ANCHOR, CNN: Mohan Ibrahim is on the phone with us. Sharing a story of survival. Mohan, you were able to escape this. And Mohan, I just want to make sure that I understand, you say that this went on for some 15 minutes, is that correct?</s>IBRAHIM: About -- it would be minimum of 10 minutes.</s>HOWELL: Oh, gosh. And you were able to get out and escape. You say that you saw people who certainly were --</s>IBRAHIM: Yes, I couldn't see them. I couldn't see them because -- you know, it's -- so, on later on, like, I heard like -- you know, there was there was a mob people shooter. And those gun sound was so loud. And when I came to the street from the mosque maybe a good say 780 -- 800 millimeter, I still heard the sound.</s>LU STOUT: An eyewitness to terror in New Zealand. You're watching CNN and still to come we will continue our coverage of these events in Christchurch after dozens of people were killed at two mosques and the city, 49 people dead. More a New Zealand's worst ever mass shooting, next.</s>LU STOUT: We're going to bring you live pictures of a flag at half- mast or a fresh photo there from Auckland, New Zealand, a flight of half mass after the tragedy that happened earlier today. The worst ever mass shooting in the history of New Zealand. Scores of people gunned down at two mosques in central Christchurch, the total number of people dead 49.</s>LU STOUT: We've also learned earlier today that a male in his late 20s has been charged with murder and will appear in court tomorrow. Three others apprehended, the investigation has only just started. Now, for more analysis into all this, Sajjan Gohel joins me via Skype from London. He is the international Security Director at the Asia Pacific Foundation, and he is a terrorism expert social.</s>SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION (via Skype): thank you for joining us here. We heard earlier from the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. She said that this was without a doubt a terrorist attack. What were the terrorists trying to achieve by killing 49 people in two mosques?</s>GOHEL: This was an attack that was designed to create a clash of civilizations, to provoke a race war. That is certainly the manifesto of elements of the far right. They have been talking about this for some time, no one anticipated that it was possibly going to happen in New Zealand. And in the case of this attack in particular, it wasn't just about killing people, it was about filming it, streaming it, making sure that those horrific images would be emblazoned in the minds of people and I would urge all social media platforms to prevent that video from being aired, because we can't bring back those people that he's killed. But we can prevent this person from getting more notoriety, which is what he wants.</s>LU STOUT: Yes, and the live streaming factor that definitely played in the motive of the attacker, of the terrorist here?</s>GOHEL: Very much so. It is actually a tactic that is used in terrorism. We've often seen it by ISIS who have used livestreaming of attacks to get the visualization of terrorism, but the far right have also mirrored it especially as we've seen in this attack because it's not just about reporting an incident, it's about seeing it. It is about - it is scarring the minds of people so that it is talked about for years to come and unfortunately, no one is going to forget this tragedy in a short time.</s>LU STOUT: Now we heard from the head of the New Zealand Police within the hour about IEDs. We know that there are IEDs that were found in the vicinity, he provided more clarity saying that there were two IEDs, improvised explosive devices found on one vehicle, one was disabled, the others in the process of being disabled. But the fact that IEDs were involved here, what does that signal to you? Where they -- was the attacker trying to plan something much larger?</s>GOHEL: Well, it's possible that in addition to shooting and maiming people, he was intending to use an IED, perhaps to throw it at civilians, or perhaps to a target the police, the first responders who would be coming in, or perhaps it was designed to create a distraction. It's unclear what the goal was going to be, but an IED and use of assault weapons shows that this individual was very well prepared, he planned it. It was coordinated. This wasn't something that was thought through overnight. He must have done reconnaissance of the mosques that were being targeted. The New Zealand authorities will now have to track back to see all the different aspects of this plot. Because I don't think this individual was necessarily acting on his own. There had to have been people he was in communication with, potentially online of the far right variety that would have given some assistance on this.</s>LU STOUT: So you're suggesting that it could be a just a cell that was involved in this, not just one attacker?</s>GOHEL: Correct. It may not necessarily be a physical cell, but a virtual cell. And we've seen this also, again, looking at groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, is that at a lone actor is never necessarily entirely a lone actor because he's been in contact with people online. They've been sharing information. They've been communicating on the dark web, using encrypted messaging to plot, plan and inspire. And what worries me a lot, Kristie about this attack is that it could create copycat incidents, it could also provoke and groups like al- Qaeda and ISIS may try and use this as propaganda to try and show that the West does want to target Muslims. So there are so many different aspects -- social, political -- ramifications of this and it's very important for cool heads to prevail.</s>LU STOUT: And the suspects, those who have been apprehended, they were not on any security watch lists. What does that reveal to you, you know, that these individuals were inexperienced attackers or this is a new militant group, what is the signal to you?</s>GOHEL: Well, the early indications say this individual was not necessarily on any watch list. But perhaps now with more information coming out about the individual and people potentially connected to it, there may be things that were identified or fragments that was seen in the past or espoused radical views, the more pieces the puzzle will be put together. And sometimes there are people with what they call clean skins, they don't have any criminal terrorist background, but privately, quietly, they've been harboring these extremist views, so we'll have to see what the New Zealand authorities put together. I don't think this is just in New Zealand ...</s>GOHEL: ... investigation because there is an Australian connection here, and New Zealand, Australia, they are part of the Five Eyes. So Britain, Canada and America will also be involved in assisting in terms of trying to put whatever intelligence that is required to ascertain what transpired.</s>LU STOUT: Do you know of any age groups, far right groups that are operating in New Zealand or Australia who would do something like this?</s>GOHEL: There are far right groups in both New Zealand and more in Australia that want to provoke a rage issue to try and incite. Australia has had racial tensions in the past, especially in places like in Melbourne and in Sydney. New Zealand has had incidents, but they have never been on a scale that could have anticipated something that we have seen. And we need to remember that New Zealand is a country that has been very peace loving and that attracts tourism. It has a wonderful international reputation. "The Lord of the Rings" films was set there. No one was necessarily aware that something like this could implode. Christchurch, the city has had tragedy such as earthquakes, but no one could have seen such a tragedy that is man made on this scale. And unfortunately, it's not just going to scar the people of Christchurch, but New Zealand and also beyond.</s>LU STOUT: This was an attack as you said, it was designed to commit an act of terror to incite a race war, to incite violence. Sajjan Gohel, we'll leave it at that. But thank you for offering your expertise and your analysis. You're watching CNN. We will have more of our ongoing coverage in the aftermath of these mass shootings in New Zealand, the worst in the country's history after this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was around 1:45. I was stopped praying, I heard this back sound, a gun, and a second one guy shoot, so I ran. There were lots of people who were sitting on the floor. The gun was from the door. I ran behind the mosque, and I sat behind the (inaudible) and rang the police and the police take long time to get -- then I climbed the wall.</s>LU STOUT: An eyewitness there detailing what he heard, what you saw earlier today, 1:40 p.m. local time in Christchurch, New Zealand when mass shootings broke out at two mosques in the central part of the city, the worst mass shooting in the history of the country. Let's go live to Auckland, New Zealand and TVNZ's Anna Burns-Francis joins us now. And Anna, hours after the shootings, we're getting a more complete picture from officials from police of the bloodshed and the investigation. What can you tell us? Anna, it's Kristie in Hong Kong. Can you hear me? Please give us an update.</s>LU STOUT: Okay. Unfortunately we don't have that connection there with the correspondent with TV, New Zealand. Our apologies for that. But just to give you the very latest of what we know we did hear from the Police Commissioner earlier today who said that the death toll had risen to 49, that a man has been arrested - a man in his 20s who will appear in court tomorrow, three others have been apprehended for having weapons on them and they were in the vicinity of the shooting. Again, the shooting taking place in two mosques earlier today in Christchurch, quite a number of mass fatalities. Now, now the head of the St. John Ambulance Service in New Zealand says that more than 20 people are critically wounded. I'm Kristie Lu Stout out in Hong Kong. Thank you for joining us and I'll be back with more coverage after this short break.</s>PETER BRADLEY, CEO, ST. JOHN'S AMBULANCE, NEW ZEALAND(via phone): We had ambulances on the scene within a matter of minutes, and what a terrible situation and scenario for the emergency service responders to come across when they arrived and here, over the preceding hours, we have transported dozens patients to hospitals and there's clearly a number of fatalities. Injuries ranging from the gunshot wounds to the head and the face and arms, legs and torso and soft tissue injuries with people trying to escape and make their escape. We had over 20 ambulances responded, over 50 to 60 ambulance staff involved around the scene, and, yes, all patients were taken to the Christchurch emergency departments where they are now being treated in ICU and we are about to review if any of those patients require transport to other hospitals to relieve pressure on the very hardworking ED in Christchurch.</s>NATALIE ALLEN, ANCHOR, CNN: Do you have any sense, Peter of the number of people that were injured here, we just heard a chilling report from our reporter out of Hong Kong who saw the video that unfortunately circulated on social media about there being so many people shot in that mosque. What are you hearing?</s>BRADLEY: Well, the exact numbers aren't clear, as you might appreciate. The serious patients were transported directly by ambulance and for that, it's somewhere around the 50 mark. But of course, we have patients who self-presented to the emergency departments and patients who went to local medical centers. So scores of patients one way or the other would have been treated and then transported to for treatment. So, large numbers and some very, very serious, along with the people who've sadly passed away. And a number of people with very, very serious gunshot wounds.</s>ALLEN: But you're telling us maybe upwards of 50 people transported by your services there. And we keep talking about the fact that nothing like this has ever happened in this country. And certainly Christchurch, has been dealing with other things -- wildfires and earthquakes -- and now this. How would you describe the feeling there after something like this?</s>BRADLEY: Well, I was CEO of London Ambulance Service prior to coming back to New Zealand. And so, I personally went through a number of terrorist attacks as chief executive over there. And so, returning to New Zealand, the little did I think that we'd ever see a similar scenario in this beautiful country of ours. So, yes, it's been -- it's an absolute tragedy and shocking to everyone -- all five million of us that live in this beautiful place.</s>LU STOUT: A day of tragic and unprecedented violence, we have more coverage after the break. Stay with us.