All four of the terror attack victims in Auckland Hospital are now in a stable condition, police say.
Three people were previously in a critical condition after ISIS-inspired extremist Aathil Samsudeen went on a stabbing rampage at LynnMall's Countdown in New Lynn on Friday. Six people were injured in the attack which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called "despicable". Samsudeen was shot dead by police within roughly a minute of the attack starting.
On Friday Ardern condemned the "violent attack", saying it was "senseless".
"It was despicable, it was hateful, it was wrong. It was carried out by an individual, not faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity - but an individual person who was gripped by an ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community," she said.
Samsudeen, originally from Sri Lanka, arrived in New Zealand on a student visa in 2011 before seeking asylum and applying for refugee status a month later, which was initially denied by Immigration New Zealand.
He then appealed that decision through the Immigration Protection Tribunal, which eventually granted him refugee status in 2013.
Years later, Samsudeen came to the attention of authorities for possessing objectionable material on his computer. Through this investigation, authorities discovered the documentation he had used for his original application appeared to be fraudulent.
In February 2019, Samsudeen's refugee status was cancelled and he was served with deportation liability notices. In April of that year, he appealed against his deportation while in prison facing charges.
But the appeal couldn't go ahead until the trial ended in May 2021. At the time of the terrorist attack, his appeal was still ongoing.
