A Nigerian Imam, Alabi Lateef saved several lives during the New Zealand terror attack. He has now broken his silence about the massacre.
About fifty lives were lost when a white supremacy terrorist identified as Brenton Tarrant invaded two mosques. This happened in New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday.
Alabi recalled that he was in the middle of his prayer inside the Linwood mosque when Tarrant opened fire on worshipers killing at least 7 people, after already killing 42 people at the Al Noor mosque.
Also Read: Mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand
At the Linwood mosque, worshippers were about to drop to the floor for the second part of the prayer service, when Lateef spotted the gunman.
Hearing gunfire outside, the Imam shouted ‘go down’, warning the worshippers to take cover.
He further explained during the media interview: “When I saw those Muslims shot dead, I just told our brothers, ‘Go down! Go down! Somebody has just shot our brothers outside the masjid.
“No one listened to me until unfortunately, he came from behind and he shot one of our brothers in the head through the window. He saw him standing and shot him through the window.
“When glass got broken and the brother fell down, everyone realised to go down.”
The Imam rushed outside with fellow worshipper, Abdul Aziz, who picked up a credit card machine on his way.
Aziz told the press that he threw the machine at the gunman, who was running back to his car to get another weapon.
The terrorist responded by firing at Aziz, who ran through a sea of parked cars to escape the bullets.
He picked up a discarded gun. Squeezing the trigger, Aziz realised it was empty, so he hurled it at the gunman’s car.
Jumping into his vehicle, the terrorist made a U-turn and sped away.
Alabi, who had locked the main door of the mosque to keep those inside safe, then called the emergency services, also doing his best to help those wounded.
He added he had been prepared to die to save his people:
“I can’t believe… I thought I’d be gone, I was ready to die because I felt for the brothers,” he added.
