28-year-old white nationalist Australian claims mosque attacks, says its terror

The man who claims responsibility for the shooting says he was 28-year-old white Australian who came to New Zealand only to plan and train for the attack. He says he was not a member of any organization, but had donated to and interacted with many nationalist groups, though he acted alone and no group ordered the attack.

He posts a 74-page anti-immigrant manifesto in which he explained who he was and his reasoning for his actions. He said he considered it a terrorist attack.

He says the mosques in Christchurch and Linwood would be the targets, as would a third mosque in the town of Ashburton if he could make it there.

He says he chose New Zealand because of its location, to show that even the most remote parts of the world were not free of “mass immigration.”

PM Jacinda Ardern at her news conference alludes to anti-immigrant sentiment as the possible motive, saying that while many people affected by the shootings may be migrants or refugees “they have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home. They are us. The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not.”

— AP