Evil gunman Brenton Tarrant, 29, pleads GUILTY to murdering 51 Muslims during Christchurch mosque massacre
- Brenton Tarrant has admitted to murdering 51 Muslims in Christchurch attack
- The Australian white supremacist had originally pleaded not guilty to charges
- He was expected to stand trial on June 2 but changed his plea on Thursday
- His shock guilty plea comes as New Zealand goes into lockdown for COVID-19
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The Australian gunman who murdered 51 Muslims during the Christchurch mosque massacre has pleaded guilty to all charges.
Brenton Tarrant, 29, appeared via video-link in the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday morning where he admitted to carrying out the attack on March 15, last year.
He pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 charges of attempted murder and a charge of engaging in a terrorist act.
The white supremacist had originally pleaded not guilty and was preparing to stand trial on June 2.
The shock hearing was scheduled late on Wednesday night, before the country was placed in a four-week lockdown to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Brenton Tarrant, 29, appeared via video-link in the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday (pictured) morning where he admitted to carrying out the attack on March 15, last year
The Australian white supremacist is originally from Grafton in northern NSW but had moved to Dunedin in New Zealand's South Island
The terror charge against him was the first prosecution of its kind in New Zealand.
Tarrant will remain in a maximum-security jail in Auckland ahead of his sentencing and now faces life in prison.
Tarrant stormed two mosques in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island last year, killing 51 Muslim worshipers and injuring dozens more.
He live-streamed the horror attack on Facebook
Tarrant first entered the Al Noor Mosque as Friday prayers were beginning and opened fire.
Worshipers scrambled as the shots rang out. Some managed to smash windows to escape, while others had to lay with the bloodied bodies and pretend to be dead.
Tarrant then drove to the Linwood Mosque on the other side of the city and continued shooting.
Tarrant, who is originally from Grafton in NSW, first entered the Al Noor Mosque as Friday prayers were beginning and opened fire (pictured during his first court appearance on March 16, 2019)
Members of the the public grieve at a makeshift memorial at the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Rd in Christchurch, New Zealand after the attack in March 2019
Two police officers managed to finally stop the shooter by ramming their car into his gold Subaru Outback.
They dragged Tarrant out of the car, and he was arrested.
Inside the car were improvised explosive devices, which were later disarmed.
A 73-page manifesto was published detailing how his actions were racially motivated and how he was inspired by Norway mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 in 2011.
Both the live-stream and the manifesto are illegal to obtain or read in New Zealand.
Tarrant, who describes himself as a far-right fascist, came to his radical views from conversations in dark corners on the internet, consolidated on trips to Europe.
He grew up in the northern New South Wales town of Grafton, moving to New Zealand in 2017 and settling in the South Island town of Dunedin.
The horrific terror attack in Christchurch, which left 51 worshipers dead, has been described as New Zealand's darkest day (Pictured: victims)
TVNZ, one of just a handful of media outlets allowed into Thursday's hearing due to New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown, reported every name of Tarrant's victims was read to him before he entered his guilty plea.
Justice Mander imposed a one-hour embargo on reporting the news to allow for survivors and the families of victims to be informed, before the wider public.
"It is regrettable that the Covid-19 restrictions that presently apply do not permit victims and their families to travel to be present in the courtroom when the defendant entered his pleas of guilty," he said.
Imams from the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, the two mosques targeted in the shooting, were both in the court.
