The Sri Lankan extremist who was shot dead by Newzealand Police within seconds after his terror act in Auckland Supermarket today(03) was under surveillance of Police over 24 hours New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Police were very “surveillance conscious” about him and has been kept eye on each and every moment staying some distance from him to make surveillance effective New Zealand Herald reports.
She further told the media that’s why only six people were able to be injured before he was shot.
The man who stabbed six innocent supermarket shoppers today in a terrorist attack – before being shot dead by police – was an “Isis-inspired known threat” who was under “constant police surveillance”, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
‘Police were following the man after he left home and walked into the New Lynn Countdown this afternoon – before he took a knife from a shelf, and carried out the attack.
Three of the six shoppers are in critical condition in the hospital.
“This was a violent attack on innocent New Zealanders, it was senseless,” said Ardern. “It was undertaken by an individual who was a known threat.”
The man was under watch because of his extremist views and sympathies with Isis. “The terrorist is a Sri Lankan national who arrived in 2011,” Ardern said.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the man was “closely watched by surveillance teams and a strategic tactical team” as he travelled from his home in Glen Eden to Countdown in New Lynn this afternoon.
