New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has condemned an attack at a West Auckland supermarket this afternoon, describing it as a “terrorist attack by a violent extremist” who was known to authorities.
Police confirmed this afternoon that they had shot and killed a man who stormed the New Lynn supermarket, armed with a knife, and injured at least six people, three of who are in a critical condition.
“He’s been known to us since 2016,” Ms Ardern told reporters after a briefing. There are court suppression orders in place affecting her ability to provide some information about the attacker.
“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity but an individual person who is gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone in the community.”
Ms Ardern said she was “so sorry” the attack had happened.
The Prime Minister said that the 32-year-old offender - known as “S” for legal reasons - had been on the police’s radar for several years and was Isis-inspired.
He was considered a threat to public safety after twice buying large hunting knives and possessing Islamic State videos, the
NZ Herald reports, and had only recently been released from prison and was under constant surveillance from police and national security agencies.
Police were following the man after he left home and walked into the New Lynn Countdown this afternoon - before he took a knife from a shelf, and carried out the attack.
“The terrorist is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in 2011,” Ms Ardern said.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said he was “closely watched by surveillance teams and a strategic tactical team” as he travelled from his home in Glen Eden to Countdown in New Lynn this afternoon.
“The reality is when you are surveilling someone on a 24 hour basis it is not possible to be immediately next to them,” Mr Coster said.
In a video posted to social media, shoppers at Countdown can be heard warning each other about “someone with a knife” inside the store, shortly before a series of gunshots rang out.
Three of those critically injured, the
NZ Herald reports, have been taken to Auckland City Hospital, along with another in a serious condition. One person in a moderate condition is at Waitakere Hospital and another is at Middlemore Hospital.
At least one person suffered a stab wound, according to the
Herald, while
Newstalk ZB reports two people have been shot.
One witness, a man named Tim, told
Reuters he saw an elderly man lying on the ground with a stab wound to his abdomen, and a middle-aged woman who had been stabbed in the shoulder.
Another witness, Brittany Denyer, said she was about to enter the shopping centre when police officers ran up to her and told her to “hurry up and evacuate immediately”.
“People were panicking, and it was a gridlock trying to get out of New Lynn. Police and ambulances [were] everywhere,” she said.
“I was told by another police officer while I was waiting to be diverted that someone had been stabbed.”
A pharmacy worker at Lynn Mall told
RNZ they had been barricaded inside the Unichem Pharmacy, along with about 20 people who had rushed inside.
General Manager Kiri Hannifin told the
Herald that the store would be closed until further notice, saying they are “devastated by what’s taken place in our Lynnmall store today”.
“Once again, our hearts are heavy knowing what our team and customers have witnessed and been through. Our thoughts are with those who were injured and their families, and we will be supporting all of our Lynnmall team,” Ms Hannifin said in a statement.
“Over the last few weeks especially, Kiwis have shown our team such gratitude and kindness and we are particularly devastated that something like this has happened again in one of our stores. It’s difficult to comprehend and the events of today leave our whole team in deep shock.”