New Zealand PM received Christchurch gunman’s ‘manifesto’ 9 minutes before attack

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Sunday said that she had received the 37-page ‘manifesto’ from the Christchurch gunman nine minutes before the stormed two city mosques and killed as many as 50 worshippers. "I was one of more than 30 recipients of the manifesto that was mailed out nine minutes before the attack took place," Ardern told reporters on Sunday.

The prime minister, however, said that the mail from the attacker didn’t include a location or any other specific details and that the police had little time to react. "It did not include a location, it did not include specific details. By the time a police plan was in place, the 911 number was already buzzing, shots had been fired. The pocket to react was slim, very very slim," she said.

As many as 50 people, including five Indians, were killed and 42 others sustained serious injuries after a white supremacist opened fire on worshippers at two Christchurch mosques - the Al Noor Mosque and the Linwood Masjid Mosque.

The gunman live streamed the horrific attack as he shot victims at Al Noor Mosque. "It is a terrorist attack," the shooter had said in the live video while he continued firing indiscriminately at people inside the Al Noor Mosque.

Ardern described the terrorist attack “one of New Zealand’s darkest days” and said the shooter—who was not on any watch list and did not have a criminal record—had legally purchased the two semi-automatic weapons, two shotguns and lever-action gun he used.

The suspect documented his radicalisation and two years of preparations in a lengthy, meandering and conspiracy filled far-right “manifesto”. He live-streamed footage of himself going room-to-room, victim to victim, shooting the wounded from close range as they struggled to crawl away in the main Christchurch mosque.