New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that the violent attack that happened at New Lynn supermarket in Auckland at 2:40 p.m. local time Friday was a “terrorist attack” carried out by an “extremist.”
The man was shot dead by police at the scene after injuring multiple people at a supermarket Countdown in Auckland’s New Lynn. Ambulance service St Johns spokesperson said at least six people were injured, including three in critical conditions.
“A violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders at a New Lynn Countdown in Auckland,” Ardern told a press conference in Wellington.
“This was a violent attack. It was senseless and I’m sorry it happened,” said the prime minister, adding that the police shot the offender within roughly a minute of the attack happening.
The attacker is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and has been closely monitored by the New Zealand Police from 2016 for his ISIS ideology, she said.
However, it is unknown whether this man is a New Zealand citizen.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster also confirmed at the press conference that the individual behind the attack was under heavy surveillance over “concerns about his ideology.”
The offender was acting alone and there was no further threat to the public, said Coster.
The person travelled from where he lived in Glen Eden to Countdown at LynnMall in Western Auckland, and was closely watched by surveillance teams.
He entered Countdown supermarket where he obtained a knife. Surveillance teams were as close as they could be, and when the commotion began they acted, according to Coster.
When the man approached them with the knife he was shot and killed, said Coster.
Armed police have blocked off the roads nearby and at least 10 police vehicles are around the mall, where the supermarket is located.
