With New Zealand subject to one of the world’s strictest lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, very few shops were open on Sept. 3, 2021. The Countdown (now Woolworths) supermarket in Auckland’s LynnMall was one of the few that was, and it was there that a known ISIS supporter, Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen, carried out a knife attack.
The inquest into his death has opened this week, starting with testimony from witnesses inside the store. Most are sharing their version of events for the first time. Coroner Marcus Elliott has also viewed CCTV footage from the store.
Just before 2:30 p.m., Samsudeen is seen entering the store and taking a trolley. He walks up and down the aisles, past a display of kitchenware. He then turns back and puts a large knife in his cart.
He puts a red glove on his right hand, tears the knife from its packaging, and starts waving it in front of him in a figure-eight pattern.
Without warning, he runs towards his first victim. He grabs that man by the shoulder and stabs him twice. His next target is a woman. Over the next three minutes, five people are seriously wounded, a sixth grazed by the knife, and a seventh injured trying to stop the attack. All the victims are seemingly chosen at random.
Some people run from the store, while others run to help the wounded. A few try to distract Samsudeen until two Special Tactics Group officers arrive. When they do, it takes only minutes until 12 shots are fired, killing him and putting an end to his rampage.
A Troubled Past and Missed Red Flags
In the years that followed, Samsudeen’s background and the actions of New Zealand’s security services in managing a known threat have been closely examined. However, until the inquest, few details were known about what happened inside the store.
The officers who killed Samsudeen will not give evidence at the inquest, as their actions were already investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority in 2022.
Samsudeen had been monitored since 2015. In 2017, he was arrested at Auckland Airport for allegedly expressing his intent to join the Islamic State and spent the next four years in prison.
The government cancelled his refugee status in 2019, but he still qualified as a protected person under the Immigration Act, meaning authorities could not deport him or hold him in custody after his release in 2021.
In the months before the attack, Samsudeen lived at Masjid e Bilal mosque as the Muslim community made efforts to reintegrate him into the wider community.
The mosque was chosen because it had a positive relationship with the police, and its chairperson provided regular updates on Samsudeen’s progress.
That person, who has name suppression, told the Coroner he would text photos to the police “to show how respectful and well-mannered my new tenant [was]. He was washing and cleaning bathrooms and toilets, which I have photos of,” he said.
“Samsudeen was also out visiting places, making friends, and connecting with girls too … he was swiftly becoming a normal man of his age.”
A witness to the attack, whose name is also suppressed, told of traumatic memories returning repeatedly to survivors.
“Simple triggers like the smell of milk, the sound of screaming, or the wail of sirens and helicopters can abruptly transport us back to that terrifying moment, overwhelming us and anyone around us once again,” she said.
“For some, the mere thought of entering a supermarket has become an insurmountable obstacle. We are no longer the individuals we used to be, and coming to terms with this reality is profoundly difficult.”
She also criticised the authorities’ response in the wake of the tragedy, telling the Coroner: “This was an act of domestic terrorism, yet it [feels] like we have been treated as if it was simply an unfortunate incident rather than a serious and preventable tragedy.”
Multiple witness statements have been read out as evidence at the inquest, with numerous people saying that they heard Samsudeen shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) as he stabbed his victims, getting louder with each attack. Many also said he appeared calm during his attack on shoppers.
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