No Vietnamese people have been claimed to be victims of the shocking massacre of Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on Friday [March 15], Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has announced. 
The world stands beside New Zealand. Photo: Getty Images
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The Vietnamese embassy needs to keep in touch with local authorities to update the situation to provide citizen protection if needed, the MOFA said in a document after the shootings.
Among the victims were six Pakistanis, four Syrians including a refugee couple their teenage sons, and three Jordanian citizens, according to CNN.
Suspect Brenton Tarrant. Photo: Yeshiva World
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Gym manager Tracey Gray, former employer of the suspect, told CNN affiliate Nine News that “He never showed any extremes of extremist views or any crazy behavior.” Gray said Tarrant might have been radicalized during a trip to Europe and Asia in the early 2010s.
Brenton Tarrant had visited Pakistan, Turkey, the UAE, Bulgaria, Rumania, and Hungary, among others.
Hotel owner Syed Israr Ahmed in Pakistan told CNN that Brenton Tarrant visited Pakistan in October 2018, saying he is a regular tourist.
Witness Ahmed Khan described an armed man shot indiscriminately at worshipers.
Authorities said it only took police 36 minutes from the first report of gunshots to find and arrest the suspect.
After the attack, the New Zealand Police Association supported the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s calls to change the country’s gun laws.
New Zealand’s weapons legislation is considered more relaxed than most Western countries outside of the US. Gun owners do need a license but they aren’t required to register their guns -- unlike in neighboring Australia. That said, gun-inflicted deaths are relatively low in New Zealand.
“The only extremism that deserves attention is the Islamic one,” Italy’s Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini said when he was asked if attacks like the one in New Zealand could happen in his home country because of his aggressive, anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Remembrance
New Zealanders write tributes to the victims close to the Al Noor Mosque. Photo: CNN
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Other cities around the world have been marking the tragedy, with the Eiffel Tower in Paris going dark on Friday evening.
And the spire of New York’s One World Trade Center was lit in blue and red, the colors of New Zealand’s flag.
Sydney opera house. Photo: Getty Images
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Meanwhile, vigils have been held at mosques and community centers worldwide - many of which were surrounded by an increased security presence to prevent a follow-up attack.
