The man who was race relations conciliator at the time of the 9/11 attacks has labelled Christchurch's terror attack as "evil" and "repugnant".
Forty-nine have so far been confirmed killed in by far New Zealand's deadliest-ever shootings, which took place at two mosques. Dozens more remain in hospital.
Four people are in police custody. One of the suspects streamed the massacre live on the internet.
Gregory Fortuin held the Human Rights Commission's race relations conciliator role in September 2001, when Islamic terrorists killed nearly 3000 people in the United States.
He said since then ordinary Muslims have had to endure an unfair amount of abuse.
"They have been quite resilient and they call New Zealand home. They felt safe in New Zealand. For this to happen is actually repugnant."
He hopes the incident doesn't tarnish our reputation of peace.
"The problem is that we have always been a model to the rest of the world with good race relations because we have had an excellent relationship with our Muslim community… We are a far-better nation than this. This incident, because it's so big, is forever going to soil our history.
"But we should continue being resilient."
The Prime Minister has labelled the incident as our darkest day.
Victim Support has opened an official fund. Spokesperson Cam Cotter says the money will be available for anyone who needs it.
"We'll be ring-fencing this funding to provide resources, support, counselling," he told Newshub. "We have our 24-hour crisis line open - that's 0800 VICTIM, 0800 842846."
If you would like to donate to the official Victim Support fund, go here. So far about $500,000 has been raised.
Newshub Nation will be starting at the earlier time of 8am on Saturday to cover the latest events. You can watch it online here or on Three.
If you would like to donate to the official Victim Support fund, go here. Victim Support's number is 0800 842846.
Newshub.
