2 New Zealand, which until this point had experienced terrorism as a “latent” threat rather than a “lived reality,” 3 suffered the single largest loss of life to terrorism in its history. Two more subsequently died of their wounds, bringing the death toll to 51. In the space of 36 minutes, Tarrant allegedly killed 49 people. Exiting the mosque, he allegedly shot another person on the pavement before driving the short distance to Linwood mosque where he allegedly continued his killing spree. On March 15, 2019, at approximately 1:40 PM local time, Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian gym trainer with no previous criminal history 1 who was active on extreme-right internet forums, entered the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he allegedly shot dead 42 people. What was unique about Tarrant’s attack-at least insofar as extreme-right terrorism is concerned-is that he livestreamed his atrocity on Facebook and in doing so, highlighted the Achilles heel of such platforms when faced with the viral dissemination of extremely violent content.

Editor’s note: This article includes a December 28, 2020, addendum with key new details from the December 2020 report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch attacks.Ībstract: In the space of 36 minutes on March 15, 2019, it is alleged that Brenton Tarrant, an Australian far-right extremist, fatally shot 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch in the deadliest terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history.

Christchurch shootings video