Christchurch terror attack inquest: Specialist paramedics pulled over for six minutes on route to Linwood Islamic Centre

By Danielle Clent of RNZ

Highly trained paramedics spent more the six minutes parked on the side of the road and needed to be convinced to proceed to Linwood Islamic Centre after the Christchurch terror attack, an Australian police officer says.

The inquest into 51 people murdered during the March 2019 shootings on Monday morning heard from two police officers who travelled to the mosque with specialist Hato Hone St John staff on March 15.

The two police officers - one from Auckland and the other from Australia - were in Christchurch at the time of the attack for a sniper training course.

Seven people were killed at Linwood Islamic Centre, the terrorist’s second target after he massacred worshippers at Al Noor Mosque, seven kilometres away.

The Australian officer told the Coroners Court he recalled much of the six minutes the paramedics spent on the side of the road were filled with officers convincing them to continue to the mosque.

“I would say that we were there as protection, and I think people being actively killed outweighed the need to remain out of the scene,” he said.

The officer confirmed to Deputy Chief Coroner Brigitte Windley he believed being in that vehicle held him back from getting to the scene.

The paramedics were waiting to hear if the scene was safe and if they had permission to continue driving there, he officer said.

The Auckland-based officer, a member of the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS), said the pair were sent to Christchurch Central Police Station when they heard news of the attack. There they jumped in a St John Specialised Emergency Response Team (Sert) vehicle alongside the specialist paramedics.

He told the court he did not know exactly where they were going when he got into the vehicle. It became clear while driving that Linwood was the “newest” scene and the most important to get to.

The Sert paramedics then pulled the vehicle over to put on protective equipment and sort out where they were going.

The AOS member also spoke to a member of the public who wanted to go to the mosque. He told them to go inside and stay put.

David Boldt, a counsel assisting the coroner, told the court the stop lasted about six and a half minutes.

The AOS member said he did not know what made the St John staff decide to continue driving to the mosque, but he believed it might have been because he told them to.

He was focused on getting to the scene to help and wanted to get there as soon as possible.

He told the court the decision for the Sert to pull over and “kit up” was necessary and understandable.

“Him stopping, as far as I’m concerned, is a necessary and sensible course of action. The reason for that is obviously getting some sort of situational awareness over the incident, suiting up and obviously having to talk to the member of the public on the side of the road.

“I wouldn’t say I was unhappy with the stop. What I would say is, I’m eager to get to the scene to do my job.”

He did not believe the mosque was safe when he arrived about 2.21pm, the officer said. He was unaware it had been cleared.

The AOS member and Australian officer left the Sert members in the vehicle further up the road and ran towards the mosque to begin clearing the scene.

He confirmed he had missed a radio transmission at 2.12pm, which said the scene was under control. Had he known it was safe, “we would have brought Sert forward with us” to help the injured victims, the officer said.

The inquest will examine the following 10 issues over six weeks:

The inquest continues.

- RNZ