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Monday 18 March 2019

Nigerian Imam Named As The Hero Of Christchurch Mosque Massacre As He Raised The Alarm Just As Worshippers Were About To Bend Down To Pray - Saving Countless Lives

Linwood Avenue mosque imam Alabi Lateef Zirullah (pictured covered in blood) has broken his silence for the first time since the deadly shooting that left seven people dead at his mosque in Christchurch on Friday
The Linwood Avenue mosque imam who was seen escaping the massacre in blood-soaked clothing warned worshippers to take cover after hearing the gunman open fire outside. 

Imam Alabi Lateef Zirullah has broken his silence for the first time since the deadly shooting that left at least six people dead at his mosque in Christchurch on Friday.

Worshippers were all about to drop to the floor for the second part of the Muslim prayer service when Brother Lateef spotted the gunman out the front and shouted his warning.

'He saved lots of lives,' a worshipper who survived the Linwood part of the massacre told Daily Mail Australia.


'Many more would be dead if we had been kneeling'.

The prayer leader said he was inside when alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant, 28, began shooting Muslim worshippers outside.

'When I saw those Muslims shot dead I just told our brothers, ''Go down! Go down! Somebody has just shot our brothers outside the masjid'',' he told the New Zealand Herald.

The prayer leader, who was seen leaving the mosque in blood-soaked clothing said he warned worshippers to take cover after hearing the gunman open fire outside
The prayer leader, who was seen leaving the mosque in blood-soaked clothing said he warned worshippers to take cover after hearing the gunman open fire outside


But Zirullah said many of them were not quick enough to heed his warnings and did not react until another man was shot in the head through the window. 
'He [Gunman] saw him standing and shot him [through] the window. When glass got broken and the brother fell down, everyone realised to go down,' he added.
The imam ran out of the mosque with fellow worshipper Abdul Aziz, who had picked up a credit card machine on the way which he used to throw at the shooter who had ran back into his car to retrieve another firearm.   
The gunman allegedly began firing back at him, but Aziz was able to dodge the stream of bullets by running through a sea of parked cars, he told the publication.
A concerned group tried to engage him before he walked away totally devastated
Aziz revealed he even spotted one of the shooter's guns on the ground and attempted to fire it but it was out of ammunition.
Instead, he launched the weapon through the suspect's car like 'an arrow,' he said. 
He said the stunt was enough 'scare' the gunman who then drove away. The shooter had allegedly shouted and 'cursed' at him while threatening to kill everyone.
While that was taking place, Zirullah said he tried to use that time to secure the doors and keep the gunman out.
He was able to call 111 and began nursing the injured worshippers.
'I thought I'd be gone. I was ready to die because I felt for the brothers,' he said.
Imams Alabi Lateef Zirullah (left) and Gamal Fouda (right) have broken their silence
Imams Alabi Lateef Zirullah (left) and Gamal Fouda (right) have broken their silence
Gamal Fouda, imam of Al-Noor mosque where 43 were killed, said the gunman entered just five minutes into the service. 
He heard screaming coming from outside, initially thinking it was children playing, before someone yelled: 'Yeah. Shooting!'
The man who raised the alarm then broke a window and clamboured out of it, with many of the 200 worshippers following.
Fouda says this is why many people survived, as many escaped through the hole in the glass.
'That's why on this right side [of the building] only a few people were killed. 
'But the left side, they fell on each other and they piled on top of each other. He was just standing and aiming at them.' 
Fouda described the gunman shooting at 'any noise coming from anywhere'.
Smoke from the gunshots left the air thick and difficult to breathe for those who had gone into hiding. 
Bloodied bandages are seen on the ground following a shooting resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries at the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue in Christchurch
Zirullah was pictured  wandering with his blood-stained tunic in the street outside the Linwood Avenue mosque after the rampage. 
The distraught man was spoken to by a crowd of people outside the police cordon before he crossed the street, his face full of dismay.
Tarrant's sickening film showed casualties crawling across the bloody floor of the Al Noor mosque as the terror suspect unloaded rounds into them.
He used a semi-automatic shotgun as well as a modified semi-automatic rifle as he pummelled victims with multiple bullets.
He had taped magazines to each other and could be seen calmly reloading fresh ammunition into the gun - thought to be an AR-15.
The massacre left 41 at the Al Noor Mosque dead before the suspect journeyed to the Linwood Avenue Mosque where he killed another seven victims, two more later died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 50 as of 5.30pm AEDT.
It is the worst attack of its kind in the country's history and was dubbed its 'darkest day' by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
New Zealand's stricken residents reached out to Muslims in their neighbourhoods and around the country on Saturday.
Shocked family members stand outside the mosque following a shooting resulting in 41 dead at the Al Noor scene
Shocked family members stand outside the mosque following a shooting resulting in 41 dead at the Al Noor scene
Some offered lifts to the supermarket or volunteered to walk with their Muslim neighbours if they felt unsafe.
In online forums, people discussed Muslim food restrictions as they prepared to drop off meals for those affected.
'Love always wins over hate. Lots of love for our Muslim brothers,' read a handwritten card on a wall of flowers in a historic part of the city that stretched a full block.
Still, Muslims were advised to stay away from mosques while the nation's security alert remained at the second-highest level a day after the deadliest shooting in modern New Zealand history. 
Outside one of the two mosques, 32-year-old Ash Mohammed pushed through police barricades in hopes of finding out what happened to his father and two brothers, whose cellphones rang unanswered. An officer stopped him.
'We just want to know if they are dead or alive,' Mohammed told the officer.
Police cordoned off the area surrounding the Al Noor mosque after the attacks (pictured)
Police cordoned off the area surrounding the Al Noor mosque after the attacks (pictured)
Desperate for any news, families and friends of the victims gathered at the city's Hagley College, near the hospital.
They included Asif Shaikh, 44, who said he was among more than 100 people at the Al Noor mosque when the attacker came in.
He said he survived by playing dead, but was desperate to know what happened to his friends who were there with him.
'It's been 36 hours, I haven't heard anything about them,' he said. 
New Zealand, with a population of 5 million, has relatively loose gun laws and an estimated 1.5 million firearms, or roughly one for every three people. But it has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world. In 2015, it had just eight.

Via - Dailymail

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