A new investigation was launched in New Zealand on Tuesday into the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, South, which killed 51 people in 2019. The aim was to find out whether lives could have been saved.
On March 15, 2019, then 28-year-old Australian racist Brenton Tarrant used an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons to gun down cold-blooded worshipers attending Friday prayers at two mosques in the city, broadcasting images of his attack live on social media.
His 51 victims were all Muslims, including children, women and the elderly. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release in 2020.
The investigation was launched by Christchurch Deputy Attorney-General Brigitte Windley and will examine, on behalf of those who lost their lives in the attack, “what we can learn from this atrocity to better protect their lives,” she said .
Maha Galal, spokesperson for the victims’ relatives, insisted on the “urgent need for answers.” “Our main concern is to know the truth,” she said in a statement before the investigation began.
The relatives particularly wanted to know whether the police entered the mosque as quickly as possible and why they did not allow other people to intervene to save victims, she explained.
Victims’ families want to “know if their loved ones could have survived,” and this “search for the truth is critical to healing and grief,” Ms. Galal added.
“We trust that the prosecution process and our legal representation will answer these pressing questions and provide the necessary clarification,” she concluded.
“Much to learn”
Families and friends of the victims gathered in a courtroom during the opening hearing of the investigation. The focus was on the broadcast of a video that paid a moving tribute to each of the 51 people killed in the shooting.
One of the investigators, Senior Sergeant Craig Farrant, described the attack afterwards, saying 49 people were killed within 19 minutes and two injured people later died in hospital.
He described the murder investigation launched after the attack as “the largest” ever undertaken by New Zealand Police, following an attack on a scale “unprecedented in our history”.
A harrowing video has also been released showing the killer’s movements in Christchurch on the day of the attack, including clips he filmed himself with a GoPro camera.
Brenton Tarrant first attacked the Al Noor Mosque, leaving 44 people dead.
He then drove 10 minutes away to the Linwood Islamic Center, where he killed seven more people.
As part of the judicial investigation, the response times of the police and emergency services will be examined in particular.
More questions arise: Did anyone help Tarrant? Could another medical intervention have saved lives? Was an emergency exit at one of the mosques closed at the time of the shooting?
“We believe there is much to be learned from the events of March 15, 2019 to be prepared as a community should such a tragedy occur again,” Ms Galal said.
The fatal attack on Brenton Tarrant, a former physical education teacher from rural New South Wales, sparked horror in New Zealand and drew condemnation from many countries.
After the shooting, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern immediately tightened gun ownership laws and put pressure on social media for spreading extremist messages online.