Shooting at the Christchurch Mosque: A father and his son killed a Syrian refugee

Khaled Mustafa's family thought they had found security in New Zealand after fleeing the bloody chaos of Syria a few months earlier.

But he and his 16-year-old son, Hamza, became victims of hatred after being shot while praying at Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch on Friday.

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• The faces of the victims

Hamza, who was initially missing, was confirmed dead by Syrian Solidarity New Zealand this morning. He was the eldest son of Mustafa.

A younger brother, Zaid, 13, is also recovering from a six-hour operation on his wounds at the Christchurch Hospital.

Syrian Solidarity NZ wrote on Facebook that the boy was in a stable state but that he did not know that his father and brother had been killed. Their youngest sister does not know it either.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with this family and all the families affected by this horrific terrorist act that has certainly terrorized New Zealand as a whole," he added.

Spokesman Ali Akil said that Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were "in total shock, devastation and horror".

"The devastated and deeply horrified mother is trying at the same time to take care of her hospitalized son," reads Facebook.

Akil added: "They survived the atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven where they were killed in the most atrocious way.

"They were just looking for a safe place, but unfortunately we can no longer claim that New Zealand is a safe place."

Mustafa arrived in New Zealand with his wife and three children in 2018.

He and his son are two of 49 people killed as a result of a terrorist attack in two mosques Friday afternoon.

The only armed man Brenton Tarrant was named responsible for the two shootings.