Afghan refugee and local resident Abdul Aziz, 48, looks on during an interview (AFP)

Abdul Aziz, 48, was in the Linwood mosque praying with his four sons when he heard gunshots. He immediately knew something was wrong. Rather than running from the sound, he ran toward it and grabbed the first thing he could find — a credit card machine — and flung it at the attacker. He tried to distract the attacker in a move that many fellow worshipers have described as heroic, weaving through cars in the parking lot, attempting to draw the gunman’s attention away from the mosque.

Latef Alabi, the acting imam of Linwood, said that he believed the death toll would have been far higher at the mosque without Aziz’s actions. Aziz said he saw the attacker drop one of his guns and managed to grab it but when he pulled the trigger, the gun was empty. When the gunman went to his car, presumably to grab more ammunition, Aziz said he threw the gun at the assailant’s windshield, shattering the glass. The assailant sped away.

Aziz remained humble, saying in an interview that anyone in his position would have done the same. “I just wanted to save as much lives as I could, even if I lose my life.” Originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, Aziz lived in Australia for 27 years after having fled the violence of his home country. He moved to New Zealand a few years ago, describing it as a beautiful country. He says he has nothing but contempt for the attacker. “A lot of people tell him he is a gunman. But... a man never hurts anybody. He is not a man — he is a coward,” Aziz said.

She died saving lives of kids, wheelchair-bound husband

Husna Ahmad, 44, was killed as she rushed back in to the Al Noor mosque to save her wheelchair-bound husband. She was among at least four women killed in the attack. She had already exposed herself to huge danger by helping several women and children escape from the building, shepherding them out as the shooting started.

“She was screaming ‘come this way, hurry up’, and she took many children and ladies towards a safe garden,” husband Farid Ahmad said. “Then she was coming back for checking about me, because I was in a wheelchair, and as she was approaching the gate she was shot. She was busy saving lives, forgetting about herself.” Farid said he forgives the gunman, and harbours no hatred toward him. “The best thing is forgiveness, generosity, loving and caring, positivity.”

‘I died several times that day,’ says an injured man

Shihadeh Nasasrah, 63, who was wounded in the New Zealand mosque shooting , said he spent terrifying minutes lying underneath two dying men as the gunman kept firing. The assailant “would go out and bring more ammunition and resume shooting,” said Nasasrah. “Every time he stopped, I thought he was gone. But he returned over and over again. I was afraid to leave because I didn’t know the safest way out. I died several times, not one time.”

Cricket fan who was the sole breadwinner of the family

Javed Dadabhai is mourning for his gentle cousin, 35-year-old Junaid Mortara, believed to have died in the first mosque attack. His cousin was the breadwinner of the family, supporting his mother, his wife and their three children, ages 1 to 5. Mortara, a convenience store owner, was an avid cricket fan, and would always send a sparring text with relatives over cricket matches.

