Today, Ahmad Alayedy spoke about the terrifying day and how he survived.
He was in the main prayer room at the Al Noor mosque, sitting with his friends just in front of an emergency exit door.
“I heard some loud sounds, I thought it was an electric shock - I had never heard a gunshot before,” he said.
“Then I saw the bullets shot down from the foyer behind me into the prayer room. I could see the people being hit by the bullets and running away. The bullets were coming past me … about five metres away from me.
“I tried to open the emergency door but it didn’t open.”
Alayedy told the court he tried both of the two locks and pushed hard on the door but it would not budge.
Terror attack survivor Ahmad Alayedy. Photo / George Heard
Dozens of people - also desperately trying to escape the gunfire - were crushing up behind him as he tried to shatter the glass inside the door frame.
The pressure on him was such that he sustained broken ribs.
“I broke the glass and got outside, I ran behind the building where my car was parked, I hid behind the car,” he said.
“I could still hear the shooting and people yelling … then the shooter stopped. I stood up to see what was going on, I could see the man with the gun over the cars, he was standing near the gates.
“He was holding the gun up against his chest, it was a big gun. As soon as he saw me he started shooting at me and I ducked back down behind my car quickly. The bullets were coming just 2cm away from me.
“I know the gunman was trying to shoot me - he looked me in the eye and then started shooting at me.”
The emergency door at Al Noor mosque was locked when worshippers tried to escape during the terror attack. Photo / George Heard
A man hiding behind Alayedy - Mohammad Siddiqui - was shot in the arm.
“I hid for about 15 minutes, then I couldn’t hear any more shooting … a policeman saw me and told me to come out with my hands up,” he recalled.
“I began walking out … I could see [a friend] lying on the ground in front of the car, I knew he was dead.
“I could see another person lying on the ground. I could see they were also dead.
But that day it was “a bit chilly” and it was closed.
“The moment I recognised the sound of the gunshot, I jumped immediately and I rushed to the exit door, I was the first one to try, then two others joined me.
“Then there was a big bang [as the glass broke] and everyone started to get out.”
Siddiqui told the court he did not pay much attention to the door’s mechanisms on the day - he just knew he had to get out of it to save his and other lives.
All he knew was it was locked and it took him and several others to smash through the glass.
Detective Senior Sergeant Damon Wells was one of the officers overseeing the scene examination.
Detective Senior Sergeant Damon Wells. Photo / George Heard
He said once the bodies had been removed from the mosque - including one victim lying right in the door frame - he tried to open the door.
He said no matter what he did with the lock mechanisms, including a magnetic hold device operated by a release button on the side, “it still would not open”.
“The only other option was that this door was locked or jammed but there was no evidence that was the case,” he said.
He suspected the magnetic locking system may not have been working, meaning it could not be opened.
However, he was not familiar with that specific locking system so could not be certain.
Another survivor thanked the Coroner for the chance to speak about his experience.
He said revisiting the mosque attack was traumatic but he wanted to make sure the children of those lost and other families had the answers they needed.
He said he was deeply impacted by the attack, where he lost many friends.
He felt guilty “every day”.
“For losing my friends and being unable to help,” he said.
“I feel ashamed in the presence of widows … sometimes I find it difficult to meet their eyes.”
A plaque at the Al-Noor Mosque to commemorate the 51 people who lost their lives in the terror attack. Photo / Logan Church
He said when the shooting started he went towards the door and got “jammed” against it.
The man begged the officer to send in help or let him go back in.
He said the officer told him to leave or he would arrest him.
He said the officer was young and appeared scared.
“The scene was chaotic,” the man said.
“I knew there were people inside the mosque who were dying or needed help, I felt helpless.”
An officer who attended with the armed offender’s squad on the day recalled walking through the mosque to clear it room-by-room so first responders could enter.
He saw “piles of bodies” - some who “appeared to have been shot attempting to flee”.
“I noticed hundreds of shell casings on the ground,” he said.
“I could see hands rising up ... people saying ‘sir, please help me’.
“One of my biggest fears was we would miss a victim because they were hiding, due to fear.”
The inquest continues.
Coroner Brigitte Windley. Photo / George Heard
The terror attack - what happened
On March 15, 2019, Australian national Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed 51 people and wounded 40 others when he stormed into two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers and began shooting indiscriminately with high-powered firearms he had been stockpiling.
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz
