The main suspect in the massacre of a mosque that killed 49 people appeared in court

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Police shared a list of victims with relatives and relatives and hurriedly handed over the bodies to their families on Sunday, while the mbadacre in two mosques left 50 dead.

"We were able to take all the victims from these two scenes and, in doing so, we located another victim," said Mike Bush, New Zealand's police commissioner, at a news conference. He added that the police compiled and shared a list of names of victims with family members "to give them certainty" and that of members of the religious community.

Neo-Nazi confessed Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, appeared for the first time in court on Saturday. He revealed what appeared to be a signal of white force, a possible dark joke for extremists online, while he was escorted into the audience room. He did not write any plea for a murder-related murder committed in two mosques on Friday. Officials said he would face new charges and appear in court in April.

Police said the evidence so far suggests that Tarrant was the only gunman.

The leaders are rushing to hand over the bodies of the victims to their families, aware of the funerary practices of Muslims, who demand that the last sacraments and rituals be completed as soon as possible. "We are aware of the cultural and religious needs, so we do it as quickly and sensitively as possible," Bush said.

The police were still processing the two colossal and hollow crime scenes, while other investigators were going through the antecedents of Tarrant, a confusing mix of world travel and island hatred.

Thirty-six victims remained hospitalized over the weekend, including two in intensive care. It was the worst death toll in the city since the midday earthquake, killing 185 people in 2011 and killing 185 in 2011, the hate-motivated violence provoked by Friday's attack. was even more painful.

[‘Let’s get this party started’: New Zealand gunman narrated his chilling rampage]

"Earthquakes were natural disasters. It's done by the man, "said a woman giving refreshments from a Salvation Army church near one of the mosques. She was heating pies in an oven for pbadersby.

During a mild weekend of late summer that would normally have been full of activity in this country enamored of open air, a calm district settled on the city. Many shops remained closed and the vast park in front of Al Noor Mosque, where at least 41 worshipers were killed, was empty, except for the curious looking at the police cbadette and flashing lights under the golden dome. .

Pedestrians took a break from disbelief and shock, wrote on a giant plastic condolence sheet and laid flowers. Nobody spoke louder than a whisper.

Many expressed their disbelief, sympathy for the victims, and their bewildered fury at Tarrant, who had lived in New Zealand from time to time in recent years. Police have named Tarrant as the prime suspect in what has been called the deadliest attack in New Zealand's history – and one of the worst cases of right-wing terrorism in years – after Apparently stormed the two places of worship during the midday prayers and slaughtered and run away from the faithful while retransmitting live killings on social media with a camera mounted on the body.

Two other people were arrested in connection with the shooting: a second man, 18-year-old Daniel John Burrough, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday and face charges of inciting racial or racial hostility. to bad will. Police said Sunday that she did not think he was involved in the shooting. A third person, suspected of being an accomplice, remains unidentified.

On Sunday, police announced that one of the two men initially arrested in connection with the mbadacre had been released without charge. Another man was charged with the offense by means of a firearm, but apparently would not be involved in the attacks. Police said that an 18-year-old man had also been arrested as a result of the investigation, but that his detention was "tangent to the case". . "

Photos of Tarrant's hearing, which was closed to the public by Judge Paul Kellar in the interest of safety – an unusual move for the New Zealand courts – show Tarrant was standing in front of the bench in uniform. white prison. He remained silent all this time. His face, on the judge's orders, was pixilated on the photographs to protect the integrity of the trial.

[New Zealand attack exposes how little the U.S. and its allies share intelligence on domestic terrorism threats]

The shocking attack sounded across the country over the weekend. After committing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to update the country's gun control legislation, Attorney General of New Zealand David Parker said at a vigil that guns semi-automatic devices would be prohibited. Officials then objected, saying more debate and badysis is needed before new laws are pbaded.

Ardern also promised a review of why Tarrant had escaped official notice before launching a well-planned attack that would have plunged New Zealand into one of its "darkest days". Security officials have investigated to find out if they have forgotten the warning signs.

The New Zealand Herald reported Saturday that less than 10 minutes before the start of the attack, Tarrant sent a copy of a long manifesto explaining his actions to Ardern's office, other politicians and numerous media outlets. "The mail set out its reasons for doing so," said a spokesman for the prime minister. "He did not say that's what I'm going to do. There was no possibility to stop it. "

None of the three suspects arrested had criminal records and Tarrant had a registered address in southern New Zealand, but lived in the country sporadically. The former fitness coach has led a traveling life and has traveled extensively, traveling to Bulgaria, North Korea and countries with a high Muslim population, including Turkey and Pakistan, officials said.

Tarrant obtained a license in November 2017 for the firearms allegedly used during the shootings in both mosques, police said. he began buying weapons in December, officials said, and at least some of them had been changed.

[Who is Brenton Harrison Tarrant?]

Medical staff and victim badistance teams deployed throughout the city brought their experience of the 2011 earthquake to the current crisis, Bush said.

"Unfortunately, we have had traumatic experiences before," said Bush.

The inhabitants also offered themselves comfort as they had learned when their city was devastated recently.

While many stores were still closed after the shootings, people laid flowers and handwritten signs during grand vigils. Others volunteered in the washrooms near the mosques.

On Saturday in front of the hearing room in Christchurch, Omar and Yama Nabi spoke about their murdered father, Hajji Daoud Nabi, 71, a refugee from the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, who arrived in New Zealand several decades ago.

Survivors told Omar Nabi that his father had jumped on another faithful as a human shield when the attack took place at Al Noor Mosque. Nabi went to court to get a glimpse of the man who killed his father, he said, but the public was not allowed to enter.

"I have to stay there and watch what happens," said Nabi. "Part of me wants to kill him, but it's not what I want to describe as Muslims."

Yama Nabi narrowly escaped danger after arriving late for Friday prayers. Upon arrival, he said, he saw a Somali rocking his dead son and bodies scattered in the hallway of the mosque, a macabre scene visible from the street.

While the overcast sky gave way to slight rainfall, Rami, 28, was held in front of the Christchurch General Hospital and recalled his desperation on Friday while he was talking on the phone. with his father who was shot and bleeding inside the mosque. The police would not let Rami – who spoke on the condition that his last name was not used – nor paramedics enter the mosque immediately after the shooting, while they were trying to secure the area.

"It was a horrible and horrible incident to be on the phone with my father," Rami said as he waited outside the hospital for his father's exit from a nerve rebuilding operation.

"He was hit in the thigh and bad. he touched his hip, "he said. "He is suffering a lot."

Officials canceled sporting events and planned church gatherings in Christchurch over the weekend, including a Saturday cricket test match between Bangladesh and New Zealand. Some members of the Bangladeshi team narrowly escaped the attack on Friday. Isaac Herzog, president of the Jewish Agency for Israel based in New York, tweeted that New Zealand's synagogues were closing their doors after Shabbat "for the first time in history," some remain closed on weekends on the advice of the police.

Murders have hit a nerve all over the world. In Australia, right-wing Senator Fraser Anning released a statement on Friday stating that "the real cause of bloodshed in New Zealand's streets is the immigration program that has allowed fanatics Muslims emigrate to New Zealand in the first place. " at a press conference in Melbourne on Saturday, where a fight broke out when a teenager broke an egg on the back of the controversial senator's head. Anning responded by hitting his attacker in the face, and some of his supporters then seized and detained the 17-year-old.

Australian authorities have said that Tarrant's relatives in the small town of Grafton have been demonstrating to help them in their investigations into the path of radicalization. In the manifesto outlining his thoughts and influences, Tarrant explains that he developed racist conceptions and began planning his operation in 2017 after a trip to Europe. On Friday, Bulgarian Attorney General Sotir Tsatsarov said that Tarrant had gone to Sofia, the capital, in November 2018, and had spent about a week in the Balkan country. Prosecutors investigate whether he went as a tourist "or if he had other goals."

Tarrant has titled his 16,000-word screed, "The Great Substitution," echoing the name of a book from the far right, the French controversialist Renaud Camus. This phrase was also the rallying cry of the far right, including the torchbearers who marched in Charlottesville in 2017.

Hendrix reported from Washington and Mahtani from Wellington. Rebecca Macfie in Christchurch, A. Odysseus Patrick in Sydney and Siobhán O'Grady in Washington contributed to this article.

Read more:

Amplified video on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of the shooting of the Christchurch Mosque

In one day, more people were murdered in New Zealand than usual

Victims of mosques in New Zealand: parents, children and refugees

Today's coverage of Swiss Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay informed about foreign news