Determined to redirect the white supremacist, anti-immigrant extremist who went on a shooting rampage at two mosques last week, Abdul Aziz used whatever was at his disposal to thwart the terrorist's attack, including a credit card machine and an empty shotgun he found lying on the ground.
Christchurch/Wellington: As New Zealanders struggled to cope with the deadly mayhem in Christchurch, stories of heroism have emerged from the tragedy, including a worshiper who chased away the gunman armed only with a credit card machine.
Of those killed in the massacre, 42 died at the Masjid Al Noor mosque on Deans Avenue in central Christchurch, seven were killed at the suburban Linwood Masjid Mosque, and one person died at Christchurch Hospital.
'I died several times that day, ' says an injured man Shihadeh Nasasrah, 63, who was wounded in the New Zealand mosque shooting, said he spent terrifying minutes lying underneath two dying men as the gunman kept firing.
Tarrant was remanded without a plea on Saturday and is due back in court on April 5 where police said he was likely to face more charges.
Latef Alabi, the Linwood mosque's acting imam, said the death toll would have been far higher at the Linwood mosque if it wasn't for Mr Aziz's actions. He saw a man dressed in black military-style gear and a helmet holding a large gun.
"I realised this is something else". They hesitated. A shot rang out, a window shattered and a body fell. "He just swore at me and took off", Aziz said. After the gunman ran away, Alabi returned to the mosque. He said the gunman dropped his gun when he ran out of bullets.
"Then this brother came over", he said of the moment Aziz could no longer bear the unfolding scenario.
Aziz said: "He gets into his vehicle and I just got the gun and threw it on his window like an arrow and blasted his window". "That's why he got scared".
Mosque shooter livestreamed attack on Facebook, posted white nationalist manifesto on Twitter
The attack was streamed live on the platform, and was crossposted from known alt-right social media platform 8chan. Soon afterwards, the footage was available on Google, YouTube , Reddit, and other social media sites.
Speaking to the AP, Aziz, an Afghan who arrived in Australia as a child refugee and moved to Christchurch after about 30 years, said that he meant to distract Tarrant by screaming at him and running after him.
The father of four, Aziz was attending Friday's prayers with his sons when he heard the gunman, identified as Brenton Tarrant, approach the mosque.
Online videos suggest police officers managed to force the auto from the road and drag the suspect out soon afterwards.
Ms Ardern said her cabinet had backed gun law changes "in principle". "We will always stand as one".
Aziz said he didn't feel fear or much of anything when facing the gunman.
Rashid comes from a family who believe in social work, Khan said, noting that his friend's mother is an active member of charities helping out the less fortunate.
"This blessing this morning gave them (the Muslim community) huge confidence.We hope to have those premises in place by the end of the week to allow our Muslim community to go back and undertake prayer". "He thought I probably shoot at him or something".
"We didn't recognise something was happening".
"We can not be deterred from the work that we need to do on our gun laws", Ardern said. Then came another shock. "I heard more gun shots and I thought that is not fire crackers or anything, so I just ran outside".
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