Taj Mohammad Kamran pretended to be dead during the attack at the Al Noor mosque. Photo / Elizabeth Binning
Taj Mohammad Kamran pretended to be dead during the attack at the Al Noor mosque. Photo / Elizabeth Binning
As bullets fell all around him Taj Mohammad Kamran lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead.
The 47-year-old, who was shot in the leg while trying to escape the Al Noor mosque last Friday, managed to make it into a garage besides the mosque after the shootingbegan.
In the garage he begged for help as friends still inside the mosque were killed.
"I was shouting 'please somebody help me, somebody help me'. One person said 'don't shout or he will come'."
Fearing for his life, he decided the best thing he could do was pretend he had already been shot, like so many others around him.
Originally from Afghanistan, Kamran has lived in Christchurch for 12 years. He was at the mosque with a good friend Matiullah Safi.
The pair came to New Zealand from India as refugees. Safi didn't make it back out again.
Matiullah Safi was killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings.
When the gunman finally left, Kamran managed to get outside and was taken to hospital, where he remains.
Yesterday he was temporarily released in a wheelchair - the bullet shattered the bones in his leg - so he could attended the call to prayer and two minutes of silence at Hagley Park. He was dressed in hospital clothing, slippers and had a blanket over his knees.
He has lost weight since the shooting and says the limited sleep he gets at night is filled with the horrific images of what happened that day.
"Every night I can hear it," he said.
"I can't sleep at night. I miss my friend, my Muslim brother. I'm not sleeping."
However, despite the shooting which claimed 50 lives and left many others injured, Kamran said he still loves the city he calls home.
