Heroes and victims
Stuff has profiles of the victims who have been named. I’ll just highlight a couple:
- Atta Elayyan, 33, from Kuwait, Elayyan was the goalkeeper for the national and Canterbury men’s futsal teams.
- Husna Ahmed, 44, from Bangladesh Ahmed was killed when she returned to the Masjid Al Noor in Deans Ave to check on her husband Farid, after getting some children to safety.
- Mucad Ibrahim, 3, born in Christchurch,
Mucad, whose family is from Somalia, was with his father and brother at the Masjid Al Noor in Deans Ave when the shooting began. His father and brother escaped. Mucad was “energetic, playful and liked to smile and laugh a lot” - Sayyad Milne, 14,
Milne was described by his half sister, Brydie Henry, as a good-natured, sporty teenager who loved football. He had dreams of being an international footballer, and played goalie. - Kamel Darwish, 38, from Jordan,
Kamel immigrated to New Zealand about six months ago and worked on a dairy farm in Ashburton - Ansi Alibava, 25, from Kerala, India,
Alibava came to New Zealand to pursue a Master of Agribusiness Management at Lincoln University. - Amjad Hamid, 57,
Hamid was a Senior Medical Officer and Rural Hospital Consultant at Hawera Hospital.
And some heroes:
- When the gunman advanced toward the mosque, killing those in his path, Abdul Aziz didn’t hide. Instead, he picked up the first thing he could find, a credit card machine, and ran outside screaming “Come here!” Aziz, 48, is being hailed as a hero for preventing more deaths during Friday prayers at the Linwood mosque in Christchurch after leading the gunman in a cat- and-mouse chase before scaring him into speeding away in his car.
- The police officers who dragged an alleged gunman from a car following a shooting at two Christchurch mosques came straight from a training session on how to deal with armed offenders.The Herald has exclusive details about how the officers, after hearing there was an active shooter on the loose in the city, took to the streets to find him – and stop him. The officers, who the Herald has agreed not to name, are both based in smaller towns out of Christchurch.