Potential intelligence failures are likely to be a key focus of the inquiry. Its remit is to investigate the perpetrator, the accessibility of semi-automatic weapons, his use of social media and international connections, and any missed opportunities by the intelligence and security services to prevent the massacre. 4 In the interim, the New Zealand government has launched a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attacks, headed by Sitting Supreme Court Justice Sir William Young, which will report on December 10, 2019.

Tarrant’s trial, currently estimated to take six weeks, is scheduled to begin on May 4, 2020. Thus, despite the attack being livestreamed on Facebook, the following details are considered allegations based on press reports, which, at the time of writing in June 2019, are yet to be proven in court.

On June 13, 2019, Tarrant, who is currently facing 51 charges of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder, and one charge of engaging in a terrorist act, pleaded not guilty to all charges in relation to the Christchurch mosque shootings. 2 New Zealand, which until this point had experienced terrorism as a “latent” threat rather than a “lived reality,” 3 suffered the single largest loss of life to terrorism in its history. Two more subsequently died of their wounds, bringing the death toll to 51. In the space of 36 minutes, Tarrant allegedly killed 49 people. Exiting the mosque, he allegedly shot another person on the pavement before driving the short distance to Linwood mosque where he allegedly continued his killing spree. On March 15, 2019, at approximately 1:40 PM local time, Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian gym trainer with no previous criminal history 1 who was active on extreme-right internet forums, entered the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he allegedly shot dead 42 people. What was unique about Tarrant’s attack-at least insofar as extreme-right terrorism is concerned-is that he livestreamed his atrocity on Facebook and in doing so, highlighted the Achilles heel of such platforms when faced with the viral dissemination of extremely violent content. Editor’s note: This article includes a December 28, 2020, addendum with key new details from the December 2020 report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch attacks.Ībstract: In the space of 36 minutes on March 15, 2019, it is alleged that Brenton Tarrant, an Australian far-right extremist, fatally shot 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch in the deadliest terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history.

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