Police deputy commissioner Wally Haumaha gives update on Christchurch shooting
Sayyad's father, John Milne, spoke through tears of his "brave little soldier", who died at the Al Noor Mosque.
The Year 10 Cashmere High School student was at the mosque with his mother and friends. He attends every Friday.
Milne said: "I've lost my little boy, he's just turned 14. I haven't heard officially yet that he's actually passed but I know he has because he was seen.
"[I'm] keeping it together and tears are helping. People are helping. Just by being here, it is helping.
"I remember him as my baby who I nearly lost when he was born. Such a struggle he's had throughout all his life. He's been unfairly treated but he's risen above that and he's very brave.
"A brave little soldier. It's so hard ... to see him just gunned down by someone who didn't care about anyone or anything. I know where he is. I know he's at peace.
"The community is shattered. The Muslim community just don't know what to do, where to go, what's happened. They're finding it very hard to accept but there is so much support from so many different people, people who aren't Muslim. Support across the board.
"But we are the most beautiful city rising out of the dust. We will go forward. This won't bring us down. It will make us even stronger. United we stand, divided we fall ... the city is going to be a symbol of what it can do after it has been hit and hit and hit."
Milne's other son usually went to the mosque but had been on a school trip. His twin sister was at school when the attacks happened.
Sayyad was one of seven people, including three students, associated with Cashmere High who were killed or injured in Friday's terrorist attacks.
Year 12 student Hamza Mustafa and his father Khaled were killed. Hamza's younger brother, also a student, was being treated in Christchurch Hospital for gunshot wounds to his leg.
Former student Tariq Omar, 24, and another student's father were also killed. Another father was injured.
Cashmere High School principal Mark Wilson said he was proud of the response to the deaths of two students. Photo AP
Principal Mark Wilson said the school began Monday with three separate assemblies for its 2000-plus students, to acknowledge the tragedies and to give students and staff a moment to come together.
Sayyad was an "awesome kid", Wilson said.
"I described him to the assembly as having kind eyes, a big heart, cheeky smile and a thick mop of hair. He loved football, and indoor futsal, and was an accomplished goalkeeper."
Wilson said he was studying hard and planning to be an architect or an engineer.
Cashmere High School head boy Okirano Tilaia said his fellow students were in a "state of shock" since the attacks.
"I didn't know any of [the victims] personally, but we are all grieving. We didn't think something like this could happen so close to home."
Wilson said he was proud of how his students were responding to the tragedy.
"It is easy to be overwhelmed by the hatred, madness, darkness, in these situations.
"The message we are emphasising is the best thing you can do is turn around and show light, show love, and that can be done in the most simple thing of showing a smile to somebody.
"Hatred won't win. It is not who we are as a country or a city, our real side is being revealed in our response."
