Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern insisted again and again last night ‘‘we did everything we could’’ to keep the public safe from an Isis sympathiser who stabbed six people in Auckland.
Three people shopping in Lynnmall Countdown, in New Lynn, remained in a critical condition in hospital last night, and a terrorist attacker under 24-hour police surveillance had been shot dead.
The man attacked six shoppers at 2.40pm yesterday, grabbing a knife from the supermarket shelves before running through the isles and shouting extremist slogans, witnesses said.
The 32-year-old Sri Lankan national who was killed arrived in New Zealand in October 2011 and had been a person of national security interest since 2016.
‘‘This was someone who was known to our national security agencies,’’ Ms Ardern said in Parliament last night.
‘‘There are very few who fall into this category and I can give you this assurance.’’
She also confirmed ‘‘yes, I was personally aware of him’’.
‘‘I’ve known about this individual for some time.
‘‘By law we could not keep him in prison, so he was being monitored constantly,’’ Ms Ardern said.
‘‘Yes [my heart sank] because I knew we had been doing everything we could, everything that we could. So, yes, I was absolutely gutted.’’
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster speaking alongside Ms Ardern said the man was ‘‘closely watched by surveillance teams and a strategic tactical team’’ as he travelled from his home in Glen Eden to Countdown in New Lynn yesterday afternoon.
‘‘I know this operation raises questions about whether the police could have done more,’’ Mr Coster said.
‘‘The reality is when you are surveilling someone on a 24-hour basis it is not possible to be immediately next to them.’’
The terrorist attacker was previously arrested for allegedly planning a ‘‘lone wolf’’ knife attack.
Ms Ardern said there was information about the 32-year-old attacker covered by court suppression orders which meant she could not reveal everything about the attacker as she would have liked to last night.
However, ‘‘in my view it is in the public interest to share as much as we can’’ when they were able to legally.
‘‘I know there will be many questions about this case and we have to confront and address each and every one of them,’’ she said.
Several inquiries into the attack had been launched last night including by the Independent Police Conduct Authority and the coroner.
Ms Ardern indicated she had prepared a timeline of the individual’s past she intends to share with the public.
‘‘You’ll see at every point the attempt we’ve made to use the law to the greatest extent we could,’’ Ms Ardern said.
‘‘The fact that he was in the community will be an illustration of the fact that we haven’t succeeded in using the law to the extent we would have liked.
‘‘That is why he was being closely monitored at all times.
‘‘We have utilised every legal and surveillance power available to us to try and keep people safe from this individual.’’
Touching on the man’s extremist Islamic views, Ms Ardern described them as ‘‘violent ideology and Isis-inspired’’, adding she was confident he was a lone wolf attacker.
A 34-year-old local man witnessed the beginning of the attack which he said occurred about 2.40pm yesterday.
He had been in the store for about 10 minutes and was in the dairy section in one corner of the supermarket.
‘‘It literally happened in front of me.
‘‘I was just buying stuff and walking toward the milk isle, and then suddenly I heard a person shouting loudly, ‘Allah hu Akbar’ and just running,’’ the witness said.
‘‘So there was this lady in front of me and he jumped on her so she fell, so that person [the attacker] also sort of lost his balance. He also fell. Then he got up. But I was behind so I couldn’t see his face but this person was wearing like a Khaki jacket and he had a knife, a pretty big knife — like I would say the size of his arm.
It was very scary. It was like a mini sword, not like a full sword. It was like a sword literally.
The 34-year-old witness said he wasn’t sure if the woman who was jumped on got stabbed.
He described the attacker as about 5ft 8in (172cm) tall and of ‘‘slightly hefty’’ build.
Auckland City Hospital had multiple operating theatres running last night to treat the injured who had chest and neck wounds.
Two major abdominal cavity surgeries were under way.
Mr Coster confirmed none of the victims were police officers.
Ms Ardern also made a plea to the public to cast the responsibility for yesterday’s attack purely with the individual, and not a religion or ethnicity.
‘‘What happened today was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong,’’ Ms Ardern said.
‘‘It was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person who was
gripped by ideology ... He alone carries the responsibility for these acts.’’
Extremism increasing
A 2020 report from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service said: ‘‘During the past year, between 30 and 50 individuals have been under active investigation by the NZSIS in relation to violent extremism at any one time.’’
The number had risen due
to investigating politically motivated violent extremism, including white extremism.
‘‘That said, faith-motivated violent extremism continues to appeal to a minority of individuals in New Zealand,’’ the report said.
‘‘Over the last year we observed individuals in New Zealand with probable intent and almost certainly the capability to engage in acts of politically motivated violent extremism and faith-motivated violent extremism.
‘‘Terrorist violence is most likely to come from lone actors, including those who may mobilise to violence rapidly with little or no warning.
‘‘Our active investigations include a small number of New Zealanders who are believed to remain in Syria or Iraq with Isil or other extremist groups.’’
- The New Zealand Herald
