New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed that the suspect behind Friday's terror attack in Christchurch sent her office a document outlining his motives minutes before opening fire.
She said the document did not include any details that could be acted upon and the document was immediately sent to security services.
Jacinda Ardern said her office was one of about 30 recipients to receive the documents about nine minutes before the attack
It did not include any location or specific details.
The number of people known to have died in the mass shootings has risen to 50.
Those who died ranged in age from three to 77-years-old - with two children among the dead.
Emergency response
Meanwhile the New Zealand Police Commissioner has defended the police response to the attacks.
In a statement, he said the first armed police were at the scene six minutes after the first emergency call. He said the attacker was in custody 30 minutes later.
He said there will be an increased and highly visible police presence in towns and cities throughout the country in an effort to reassure the public.
Response times:
There has been some speculation around the Police response times to the first attack on Deans Ave on Friday.
To clarify, Police received its first 111 call at 1.41pm.
The first armed Police unit was on scene at 1.47pm.
That’s six minutes to respond.
— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 17, 2019
Within 10 minutes, our Armed Offenders Squad was on scene.
Within 36 minutes, a mobile offender was in custody.
I am very proud of the Police response to this terrible attack.
— New Zealand Police (@nzpolice) March 17, 2019
The man suspected of carrying out the shootings, 28-year-old white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, appeared in court on Saturday charged with one murder.
Police officers pick up flowers in front of the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, 17-03-2019. Image: AP Photo/Vincent YuChristchurch
The gunman used a helmet-mounted camera to broadcast 17 minutes of live video of the rampage at the al Noor mosque in Christchurch. Another attack on the Linwood Islamic Centre followed.
The footage was broadcast live on Facebook, and the gunman's document outlining his motives for the murders was also posted on social media.
On Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh this morning, former Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton said social media platforms are actively resisting changes to legislation that would oblige them to prevent the sharing of terrorism content online.
Ms Creighton, who is currently Senior Advisor at the Counter Extremism Project, said social platforms could be going much further.
“It is really hard to fathom,” she said.
“I understand why tech companies oppose privacy laws, data law – because it impacts on their revenues and they don’t like any change to how their revenue model functions.
“But this is reputational as well as being morally the right thing to do and they just keep dragging their heels and saying there is little they can do.
“It is hugely frustrating.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts during a briefing in Wellington, 16-07-2019. Image: Xinhua/Guo LeiMs Ardern has said she will be holding discussions with Facebook.
She said she had already been contacted by Facebook's operations chief, Sheryl Sandberg, who shared condolences over the shootings.
"Certainly, I have had contact from Sheryl Sandberg,” she said.
“I haven't spoken to her directly but she has reached out, an acknowledgement of what has occurred here in New Zealand."
“When asked if Facebook should stop live-streaming, she said: “This is an issue that I will look to be discussing directly with Facebook."
In the first 24 hours we removed 1.5 million videos of the attack globally, of which over 1.2 million were blocked at upload...
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) March 17, 2019
Facebook said on Twitter that "police alerted us to a video on Facebook shortly after the live-stream commenced and we quickly removed both the shooter's Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video."
It said it had removed 1.5 million videos of the attack in the first 24 hours of the slaughter.
