Taika Waititi, Sam Neill, Russell Crowe react to New Zealand mass shootings

Clark Collis
Updated
New Zealand mass shootings: Taika Waititi, Russell Crowe, Sam Neill react

New Zealanders Taika Waititi, Sam Neill, and Russell Crowe have reacted to today’s mass shooting in their homeland. According to CNN, at least 49 people were killed and 20 seriously injured in mass shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch at lunchtime local time on Friday. Three people were arrested in connection with the shootings. A 28-year-old man was charged with murder and will appear in court Saturday morning.

“My heart is broken,” wrote actor and film director Waititi, on Twitter. “My country is weeping and so am I. I am dying knowing that this kind of hatred can happen in my homeland. All my love goes out to Christchurch, the victims, the families, the Muslim community, and all who have chosen our islands as their home. This is not us.”

“This beyond grotesque horrific white supremacist terrorist crime in OUR, YOUR little country,” wrote Neill, whose family moved from Northern Ireland to New Zealand when he was seven. “With love and heartbreak to the Muslim community of Aotearoa, we are with you. You are us. We are all NewZealanders. #TheyAreUs Kia kaha. We weep together.”

“40 dead in NZ,” wrote Crowe, who was born in the New Zealand capital Wellington. “Senseless, pointless, cruel deaths. My heart breaks for all the families involved, and for the beautiful people of New Zealand to whose hearts this pain will attach, for a long time. Kia Kaha.”