Accused Christchurch mosque gunman Brenton Tarrant was a relatively ‘normal’ person before becoming radicalised while travelling the world using inherited money.
The 28-year-old Australian, who grew up in Grafton, New South Wales, is facing murder charges for allegedly gunning down 50 people at two mosques on Friday in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting in history.
In the wake of the attack, those who knew or had come across Tarrant, described him as ‘normal’ and as a loner, with some saying he had never showed signs of being an extremist.
Tarrant had no prior criminal record in either country, and previously worked as a fitness trainer in a gym in his hometown.
In his 74-page manifesto, Tarrant himself claimed he was an ‘ordinary, white man,’ born into a working class, low-income family of Scottish, Irish and English descent.
He later revealed his far-right, white supremacist beliefs, stating he had been motivated to take revenge on the Muslim community – which he referred to as ‘invaders.’
Years before moving across the ditch, he had embarked on a world tour across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, making stops in Turkey, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, North Korea, and even Pakistan as recently as 2018
Accused Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant, 28, appeared to have a ‘normal’ demeanor before becoming radicalised during his travels to Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
Brenton Tarrant is pictured as a child being held by his keen athlete father who died of cancer in 2010 at the age of 49. He grew up in Grafton in the Northern River region of Australia’s New South Wales and worked as a personal trainer before leaving to travel the world
It is unclear when exactly Tarrant moved to New Zealand, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the purported gunman had lived in the country ‘sporadically,’ was not a ‘long-term resident,’ and had acquired a gun licence by 2017.
He allegedly planned out his attack from his one-bedroom home in Dunedin.
But years before moving across the ditch, he had embarked on a world tour across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, making stops in Turkey, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, North Korea, and even Pakistan as recently as 2018.
Foreign authorities are now investigating whether Tarrant had any ties to far-right groups in other countries.
In his manifesto, Tarrant appeared to speak of his travels in a positive way stating, ‘The varied cultures of the world greeted me with warmth and compassion, and I very much enjoyed nearly every moment I spent with them.’
But he later admitted his trips through western Europe in 2017 changed his views on immigration ‘drastically.’
He revealed his alleged attack was an ‘act of revenge on the invaders’ for the ‘hundreds of thousands of deaths…in European lands throughout history.’
Tarrant referenced the 2017 Stockholm terror attack when an Uzbek man rammed his truck into a department store killing four pedestrians, including an 11-year-old girl named Ebba Akerlund.
At the time of the incident, he was travelling through France, Portugal and Spain.
The New Zealand mosque killer faces an ‘unprecedented’ sentence that bars him from ever applying for release, but could yet dodge terror charges, legal experts say. Brenton Tarrant (pictured) has been charged with one initial count of murder over the mass shootings that killed 50 people in the southern city of Christchurch and faces life in prison
The Greek writing on one of Tarrant’s guns came from the Greek revolutionary Nikitas Stamatelopoulos, who was known as the Turk-Eater for his fighting prowess in the Greek War of Independence
Tarrant grew up in a picture-perfect house (shown above) in Grafton in the Northern River region of Australia’s New South Wales
Rifles used in Tarrant’s alleged rampage were scrawled with the names of past mass killers and cities where the shootings occurred. One of the weapons reportedly had references to Akerlund.
He expressed his deep disappointment towards right-wing French leader Marine Le Pen’s defeat in the 2017 French election, saying he was left ‘fuming rage’ and ‘despair’ towards ‘invaders.’
He claimed French people were ‘often in a minority themselves’.
Tarrant’s ideological views have been said to be closely aligned with those of the alt-right.
Greg Barton, counter-terrorism expert from Deakin University in Melbourne, told The Guardian it’s possible Tarrant could have been influenced by the far right ‘identitarian’ movement which originated in France in 2016.
In fact, followers of the movement believe European culture is being replaced with a non-European one – a concept that seemed to be reflected in the title of Tarrant’s manifesto, ‘The Great Replacement.’
While it’s not clear how Tarrant funded his travels around the world, claims have surfaced online alleging he made his money through Bitconnect, a now-defunct cryptocurrency platform believed to be a ponzi scheme, as well as claims he inherited money after his father Rodney, 49, an athlete, who died of cancer in 2010.
In March 2016, Tarrant took a trip to Greece, visiting Crete and Santorini, and also had two layovers at a Greek airport months later in November and December.
That year, he also stayed in Turkey for 43 days over the course of two separate trips, one on March 17 to 20, and again on September 13 to October 25.
CCTV footage of Tarrant walking through the airport in March 2016 emerged following the attack.
Turkish authorities suspect the gunman may have been supported or encouraged by a larger terror organisation.
His manifesto included references to the Ottoman empire, including names of its opponents of from Russia, the Balkans, and Azerbaijan – in their native scripts.
His guns allegedly contained a phrase from revolutionary Nikitas Stamatelopoulos, who was known as the ‘Turk-Eater’ for his fights in the Greek War of Independence.
Tararant also mentioned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his declaration and said Muslims should not be allowed in the part of the country that lies west of the continental divide between Europe and Asia.
But further in the manifesto he claimed he acted alone. ‘No group ordered my attack, I make [sic] the decision myself,’ he wrote.
At the end of that year, in December 28 to 30, Tarrant travelled to Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Bonsnia-Herzegovina by bus – stopping at historic battle sites.
In his livestream of the incident, a Serbian nationalist song was allegedly heard playing in the car in the background.
Officials from Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Hungary are currently examining Tarrant’s movements around the region from 2016 to 2018.
He is alleged to have travelled around the area studying historical battles between Christians and Muslims, dating back to the Crusades in the 12th century.
A killer’s lair: This is the one-bedroom apartment where suspected mass murderer Brenton Tarrant planned his massacre and wrote his chilling 74-page manifesto
Tarrant reportedly never had guests or visitors at his one-bedroom apartment and often kept to himself
Reports claim Tarrant had also spent a night in Jerez, in southern Spain in February 2018.
Hotel staff described him as a ‘normal man’ and a ‘little reserved,’ according to The Guardian.
Photos and posts have also surfaced of his trip to Pakistan in October 2018.
In a Facebook message, Tarrant described the country as ‘an incredible place filled with the most earnest, kindhearted and hospitable people in the world.
‘The beauty of hunza and nagar valley in autumn cannot be beat,’ he wrote.
A Pakistani hotel manager, who owns Osho Thang Hotel in Nagar, described Tarrant as a ‘regular tourist.’
‘All I remember was that he was a fan of local food. He would leave the hotel in the morning and would come back in the evenings,’ the manager told CNN.
That same year, Tarrant travelled to Bulgaria from November 9 to 15, claiming he wanted ‘to visit historical sites and study the history of the Balkan country’, according to Bulgaria’s public prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov.
On the final day, he flew to Bucharest, where he hired a car to drive to Hungary.
Tarrant’s alleged rampage came as a shock to mostly everyone who knew him.
He ‘was normal as one person as to the next,’ Gym manager Tracey Gray told KITV. ‘He never showed any extremes of extremist views or any crazy behavior.’
A woman, who did not want to be named, previously said she believed ‘something happened’ during Tarrant’s trips around the world that may have radicalised him.
‘I would say it’s something in the nature of his travels, something he’s been around.
‘I know he’s been to lots of different countries trying to experience lots of different things in life and I would say something’s happened in that time in his travels,’ she said.
Tarrant allegedly opened fire at the Al Noor mosque on Deans Rd in Christchurch on March 15. He targeted a second mosque in Linwood, and allegedly killed a total of 50 people
Tarrant was arrested on the sidewalk by two training police officers on Friday after he allegedly shot and killed 50 Muslim worshipers
Nearly three days since the horrific terror attack in Christchurch which left 50 worshippers dead, new details about the innocent victims are emerging
It has since emerged that Tarrant had been bullied over his weight during his teens when he was on a junior rugby team.
‘We spent a lot of time together and there was a time when he was picked on pretty badly and I had to just go out of my way to have a yarn with him,’ former teammate Daniel Tuite told The Australian.
‘Grafton can be a pretty harsh place … so if you’re overweight and a bit what some people might call useless on the field, you’re going to probably get picked on. That’s why he just kept himself to himself,’ he added.
A woman who claims to have met Tarrant through the gym, told Daily Mail Australia that as an adult, he followed a strict dietary and exercise regime and worked at the gym after he finished school.
She said Tarrant always ‘threw himself into his own personal training’ before he later became a qualified a trainer and started training others.
‘He was in the gym for long periods of time, lifting heaving weights. He pretty much transformed his body,’ she said.
The woman also said she had not spoken to him or heard him talk about his political or religious beliefs.
‘From the conversations we had about life he didn’t strike me as someone who had any interest in that or extremist views,’ she said.
On Sunday, neighbours who lived near Tarrant’s Dunedin home told Daily Mail Australia they had been shocked to learn he had been accused of carrying out the mosque attacks.
A couple who live in the apartment adjacent to Tarrant’s described him as a ‘loner’ who never had visitors. A woman said Tarrant never had anyone over his one-bedroom apartment, and had never drawn attention to himself.
Another neighbour said he had also never seen anyone coming or going from Tarrant’s home, but said the self-confessed terrorist had always given him a smile and a wave in passing.
Police descended on the Anderson’s Bay property, located four-and-half hours south of Christchurch, hours after the shooting Friday night.
They remained at the house well into Saturday morning, with one officer telling Daily Mail Australia authorities were guarding the home 24 hours a day to keep the scene secure.
Bruce Rifle Club vice president said Tarrant had been ‘polite and well spoken’, and nobody had ever raised a complaint about him
It’s believed that Tarrant regularly attended the Bruce Rifle Club and had his own key to access the premises
‘We’re just babysitting an empty house. All I can tell you is he likes peanut butter and tomato sauce from what we’ve seen,’ an officer told News Corp Australia.
On Monday, the vice-president of a New Zealand gun club where Tarrant allegedly trained in the lead-up to the massacre, revealed details of his time as a member – but said nothing odd stood out from the accused terrorist.
‘Myself and a few of the members have been trying to think back, to see if there was anything that should have made us think twice about this guy, but there wasn’t anything,’ Bruce Rifle Club vice-president Scott Williams told Daily Mail Australia.
Membership to the Bruce Rifle Club was ‘heavily dependent’ on firearm safety – and shooters needed three club meetings to prove they met the expected standards.
‘Our focus has always been on firearms safety, we don’t want any accidents to happen – that would be the main criteria we assess people on,’ he said.
‘We don’t usually think, “oh well we should ask this guy if he’s a white supremacist” or anything.’
Mr Williams, who works for a security firm, said Tarrant had been ‘polite and well spoken’, and nobody had ever raised a complaint about him.
‘I don’t know anything else about him. I would speak to him about Bruce Rifle club, but I didn’t know anything about his life outside of that,’ he said.
He said the Australian-born gunman had ‘beefed up’ before his alleged attack.
‘He looked musclier than before,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t tell you how long he’d taken to do it… there might have been a big gap between when I had seen him last, but I remember he looked a lot bigger than the last time I saw him.’
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