New Zealand police kill ‘terrorist’ after he stabs 6 people

Three of the shoppers were taken to Auckland hospitals in critical condition, police said. Another was in serious condition, while two more were in moderate condition.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the incident was a terror attack. She said the man was a Sri Lankan national who was inspired by the Islamic State group and was well known to the nation’s security agencies.

Ardern said she had been personally briefed on the man in the past but there had been no legal reason for him to be detained.

“Had he done something that would have allowed us to put him into prison, he would have been in prison,” Ardern said.

The attack unfolded at about 2:40 p.m. at a Countdown supermarket in New Zealand’s largest city.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said a police surveillance team and a specialist tactics group had followed the man from his home in the suburb of Glen Eden to the supermarket in New Lynn.

But while they had grave ongoing concerns about the man, they had no particular reason to think he was planning an attack on Friday, Coster said. The man appeared to be going into the store to do his grocery shopping.

“He entered the store, as he had done before. He obtained a knife from within the store,” Coster said. “Surveillance teams were as close as they possibly could be to monitor his activity.”

Witnesses said the man shouted “Allahu akbar” — meaning God is great — and started stabbing random shoppers, sending people running and screaming.