The Prime Minister has confirmed the man being Friday’s terrorist attack in Auckland, who was shot dead by police after stabbing six people in a supermarket, was a violent extremist known to police.
Witnesses described scenes of mass hysteria as several people were attacked before the assailant was shot during the incident at Countdown, Lynn Mall, New Lynn, on Friday afternoon.
Six patients have been taken to hospitals across Auckland. The terrorist, who has been under heavy surveillance, died at the scene.
Speaking from the Beehive in Wellington, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed it was a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders.
Ardern described it as “despicable” and “hateful” act by “an individual, not a faith.”
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Three of the injured are in a critical condition, one is in a serious condition and two are in a moderate condition.
Ardern said she wanted to acknowledge the injured people, she also thanked members of the public who helped.
“It was senseless.”
She said the terrorist was known to police and under constant monitoring. He was killed within 60 seconds of the attack starting.
Police commissioner Andrew Coster said there were concerns about the attacker's ideology.
He was closely watched and entered the store as he had done before.
Surveillance teams were as close to him as they could be before he approached them with a knife and shot him, Coster said.
Ardern said the attacker was a Sri Lankan national arriving in New Zealand in 2011 and became a person of interest in 2016, the reasons why are subject to strict suppression orders, which the Prime Minister is seeking legal advice on.
“It was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual not a faith not a culture not an ethnicity.
“He alone carries the responsibility for these acts.”
The Prime Minister said the man was “obviously a supporter of Isis ideology".
Ardern said she was “absolutely gutted” to hear about this attack as she knew: “we were doing everything we could”.
She detailed the reason why he was in the community was because he had not committed a crime to warrant imprisonment, however was under constant monitoring.
If there was a criminal act that would have allowed him to be in prison, that's where he would have been, Ardern said.
Coster added from police’s monitoring, they've ascertained he was acting alone.
The Prime Minister said she would provide more information about the attacker as soon suppression orders had lapsed, which was subject to court orders.
