(MSNBC) Scores of people were killed and three suspects were in custody after mass shootings during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed at a 4 a.m. ET press conference that 49 people were dead with dozens of others injured. Bush said a man aged in his late-20s had been charged with murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is one of New Zealand’s darkest days,\u201d Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “Clearly, what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack, adding that it appeared to have been well-planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“These are people who I would describe as having extremist views, that have absolutely no place in New Zealand and in fact have no place in the world,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christchurch is a city of around 375,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Zealand requires gun owners to have a firearms licence, which can be applied for by people as young as 16 years of age through their local police station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applicants must take a firearms safety test and are required to follow regulations on safe storage for any firearms they own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around 225,000 New Zealanders have such licences and own an estimated 700,000 to 1 million firearms, according to the New Zealand Council of Licensed Firearms Owners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(MSNBC) Scores of people were killed and three suspects were in custody after mass shootings during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Police Commissioner Mike Bush confirmed at a 4 a.m. ET press conference that 49 people were dead with dozens of others injured. Bush said a man aged in his late-20s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-regional-and-international-news"],"yoast_head":"\n