I did not attend the masjid on the day of the event walilahil hamd. When I recieved the news I began to worry which friends were impacted in the shooting. My wife was worried about her father and we were unable to contact him as his phone was off. We later found he was OK. I then began calling multiple friends to find out what was going on. Got news that a Somalian man called Musa had died. He used to walk to the masjid everyday from his home for maghrib salah. I then got more and more reports that other friends had died. I was unable to come to terms with the reality of the sitaution however I was very angry and wanted to know all I could about the shooter. I watched the video and i read his manifesto from beginning to end. Realized a lot of it was trolling as well as promoting his concept of accelerationsim. I then studied the threads on 8chan to get a clear understanding of the idealogies of those who supported the shooter.
One of my close friends told me about praying in the front row and being able to escape through a window. Many Muslims escape via that route. There is a carpark at the back of the masjid and a concrete sort of fence. This is beyond a shed. The shed may be getting used for classes in the future but as previously been used to store Islamic books and a couple of brothers have stayed there from time to time.
The shooter did not go to the back of the masjid for whatever reason but if he had there would have been MANY more deaths as many Muslims were at the back. My friend began having post traumatic experiences of being scared of people creeping up on him but he is getting better with that now. Other brothers I know report the flashing of the weapons being very bright and causing psychological issues for them as well.
I know of the brother Talhah who used to pick his younger brother from the school my daughter goes to. Ilam. I also knew his father.
Its late here but if you want more details then ask and I will answer. As for Linwood masjid then that is closer to my home and this is where my father and law was praying on the day. He arrived late so was able to avoid the shooter. Gun shots were heard from down the street so nobody thought of heading in that direction.
The carpets were removed there and am trying to remember but there was some type of foamish material there for a while before they were replaced with fresh carpets. I began praying there again after the bodies were released whic took a long time.
Theres just too many things to be said mate. A whole book could be written on it.
But yeah, I spoke to one brother here who had a lot of itneresitng details. He attends lindwood masjid and there is just so much things that muslims are asking here. Now that things have calmed down a bit I can start getting more information but feel I need to bring a pen and paper to record information because there is just so much of it. Many report that there were other people involved that police mentioned at first before saying it was only TArrant on his own. Some say he was going toa third mosque in Ashburton which may be correct as he was heading towards Brougman street. the place wjere the car was knocked on the curb is right next to where I sued to live. Strickland street but yeah some even say he may have been heading to the muslim kindergarte center in hornby but yeah nmany different views. The big can of worms is where did he get the funding?
There was some strange arrests here. A russian guy was arrested. Might have to double check where he was from but someone got arrested on gun charges not long after but details about it were very vague.
Police are taken Tarrants word that he got the weapons from bitcoin transacitons but nobody has investigated this and its just taken his word which is likely a lie.
Oh other stuff happened in the past. Dead pigs head at masjid door. Also other strange cases of people showing up to the masjid and saying racist things. Kind of makes me think that there were people behind the scenes plotting for a long time or tesitng the waters and so on. SOme firends report seeing Tarrant in the masjid a year before in the mosque but police say they don't have any evidence of that. Thing is the police just don't listen to anything muslims say and refuse to investigate anything. How can we trust them when they showed up 20 minutes late? Too busy in the staffroom drinking coffee. Yeah theres many things man its just a huge topic but focusing on this issue of saying its fake is a plot itslef I think to distract from the REAL hard questins that need asked. MAx Igan said this too. This focus on the videos being fake is a DISTRACTION from the imortant questions but anyway I am rambling