A fearless police officer has been hailed a hero after dramatically pulling one of the suspected Christchurch mosque shooters from a car during a dramatic roadside arrest.
Footage filmed by a passing motorist shows the gunman’s white station wagon wedged between the gutter and another police car, with its front wheels spinning in the air.
The suspect is still inside the car as the two officer’s approached the car with their weapons drawn – knowing the suspect would have been carrying multiple high-powered weapons.
The gunman’s car can be seen wedged between the gutter and another cop car, with its front wheels spinning before the officers jump out with their weapons drawn.
As the suspect, clad in dark clothing, was dragged from the car the video shows one of the cops restraining the man.
The TERRORIST got caught by the police. I hope he gets the punishment he deserves. #NewZealand pic.twitter.com/GsBdMFJ5sR
— حاجی ملک اسامہ™ (@xlordusama) March 15, 2019
The video is 44 seconds long and was filmed by eyewitness Nathan Campus who was driving on Brougham Street, a dual carriageway running east to west in the city’s south.
He said: “They pulled three guns, maybe four, from the car and then they pulled the man out right over the handbrake … it was pretty scary.”
The mass shootings at two mosques full of worshippers attending Friday prayers killed 49 people on what the prime minister called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”.
Authorities have charged one person, detained three others and defused explosive devices in what appeared to be a carefully planned racist attack.
One gunman, who identified himself as Australian man Brenton Tarrant, 28, used a GoPro to film himself driving to the mosque listening to folk music with at least six weapons on the floor of his car.
Tarrant also posted a 73-page manifesto to Twitter before the killings, describing them as a ‘terrorist attack’.
In the manifesto, where he also identifies himself as a white supremacist, he claims he’s of ‘British stock’.
People were also reportedly shot at the nearby Linwood Masjid mosque on Friday afternoon, and there were reports of another shooting outside Christchurch Hospital and a bomb found in a car three kilometers from the mosque.
Police have urged people near the area to stay indoors and report suspicious behavior, describing the incident as ‘critical’.
What we know so far:
- At least one terrorist opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, at 1.40pm local time on Friday
- 49 people have been killed – 41 were killed at Masjid Al Noor Mosque, seven at Linwood Masjid Mosque and one died at hospital, another 48 are in hospital with gunshot wounds and 20 are in critical condition
- A gunman live-streamed the deadly attack on Facebook using a GoPro in footage too distressing to show
- It was posted on a Facebook page belonging to Brenton Tarrant
- It is understood the killer is an Australian who published a chilling 74-page manifesto before the rampage
- A 28-year-old man has been charged with murder and will appear in court tomorrow