Attacker’s plan began, ended online
Online accounts linked to gun attacks at two New Zealand mosques on Friday circulated white supremacist imagery and extreme right-wing messages celebrating violence against Muslims and minorities on social media.
A gunman broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one of the mosques.
On Wednesday, the Twitter handle @brentontarrant tweeted pictures of one of the guns later used in the mosque attacks in the city of Christchurch.
It was covered in white lettering, featuring the names of others who had committed raceor religion-based killings.
Other tweets from the same user on that day included references to declining white fertility rates, articles about rightwing extremists in various countries and stories about purported crimes by illegal immigrants.
The Twitter profile had 63 tweets and 218 followers.
A person involved with the attacks also appeared to post to the “/pol/ – Politically Incorrect” forum on 8chan, an online discussion site.
On Friday, the anonymous user told the group “I will carry out an attack and will livestream the attack via Facebook”.
The post featured a link to a 74page manifesto that said he was motivated by “white genocide“, a term white supremacists use to describe immigration and the growth of minority populations.
It also linked to a Facebook page for a user called brenton.tarrant.9, where the attack was livestreamed.
The @brentontarrant Twitter account was suspended not long after the shooting on Friday, as was the brenton.tarrant.9 Facebook page.
The Facebook livestream of the attack began about 1.40 pm local time and ended less than 20 minutes later.