Dramatic footage within the mosque of the Christchurch attack

A white Australian white supremacist terrorist who livestreamed his sickening shooting spree on Facebook is one of four people arrested over dual mosque attacks which left 49 dead and 48 injured on New Zealand’s 'darkest day'.



The gunman, who identified himself as Brenton Tarrant from Grafton, NSW, Australia, stormed the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch on the country's South Island about 1.30pm, opening fire with a semi-automatic shotgun and a rifle on about 100 defenceless worshippers attending Friday prayers.



A sickening 17-minute video of the unfolding horror shows the self-confessed white supremacist dressed in army fatigues firing mercilessly at people scrambling to flee, and calmly reloading when he runs out of bullets.



At about the same time, there was a second shooting at Masjid mosque in Linwood, where seven more were killed.



In the aftermath of the bloody attacks, three men and one woman were arrested, with police charging 'one man in his late 20s' with murder. He will face court on Saturday.



Two others remain in police custody, with the fourth person arrested deemed not to have been involved in the attacks.



Of the 49 fatalities, 41 were killed at the Al Noor Mosque and seven at the Linwood Avenue mosque. Three of the seven were slain on the streets. A 49th died in hospital.



A further 48 people were rushed to Christchurch Hospital with gunshot wounds, 20 of which were in a critical condition. A dozen operating theatres were used, with many victims requiring multiple life-saving surgeries.



New Zealand Police later evacuated families from a street in Dunedin as they investigated a home 'of interest' to the shootings. The address is believed to be the home the gunman's car is registered to.