Christchurch, New Zealand (CNN) Abdul Aziz Wahabzadah was praying with his four children at the Linwood mosque in Christchurch on Friday when the gunfire started.

Abdul Aziz Wahabzadah

Friday is the busiest day of the week for mosques around the world, when Muslims convene for Friday prayers. Wahabzadah told CNN he ran outside as soon as he heard the shots, grabbing a credit card reader along the way. He confronted a man in "army clothes" armed with guns and a camera.

To distract the shooter from the mosque, Wahabzadah said he threw the credit card reader.

"I just wanted to scare him so he doesn't come inside," he said. Unfortunately the shooter did make it in.

The credit card reader hit the shooter, who then ran back to the parking lot and began firing at Wahabzadah. The shooter dropped the first gun -- which Wahabzadah described as a shotgun -- and started shooting with the second. The gunman couldn't get a good angle on Wahabzadah, he said, because Wahabzadah was ducking between cars and a fence.

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