At least six people have been injured in a terrorist attack at a supermarket in Auckland, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
At a press conference, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the attack at the New Lynn Countdown supermarket Friday was a terrorist attack carried out by a violent extremist.
The man was shot and killed by members of a police Special Tactics Group within 60 seconds of the attack beginning, Ardern said.
The Prime Minister described the man as an “Isis-inspired known threat” who was under constant police surveillance.
Ardern revealed the terrorist is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in October 2011 and he became a person of a national security interest in 2016.
The prime minister did say the terrorist-held is a violent ideology inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS), but it would be wrong to direct any frustration at anyone other than this individual. She said she was personally aware of the terrorist before today’s attack.
“What happened today was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual, not faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person who is gripped by an ideology that is not supported here by anyone,” Ardern said.
Due to the suppression orders, Ardern said she was unable to provide information about any past criminal history.
“By law, we could not keep him in prison,” she said.
(With inputs from agencies)
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