The Christchurch man who lives next door to one of the mosques targeted in Friday's terrorist attack has spoken to Newshub about the horrifying ordeal.
Len Peneha's day was continuing like any other when he saw a man pull up in a Holden in front his home, which neighbours the Masjid Al Noor Mosque on Deans Ave.
Peneha was watching from the second floor as the man pulled something unidentifiable from the boot and walked towards the mosque.
Then the shots began.
"People started jumping over our fences and my daughter was just screaming 'save them, save them', just yelling out the window, and I just bolted downstairs and started pulling these people over the fences, over the fence, and pushing them into my apartment," he told Newshub.
Five people were able to make it over into the safety of his apartment.
"There was just one guy who had his fingers on the edge of the fence, I couldn't pull him over, it was like dead weight, I couldn't get high enough to get enough leverage, I had to leave him there and I hope he's okay."
The shooting continued for ten minutes, the gunman running out and then back inside again.
"One guy was calling out for his brother, he wanted to go back and check on his brother, but I kept him back because he would have got shot as well."
Finally, the shooter left - but not without one last horrible act.
"As he drove off, I saw a leg pop up and I just bolted down the driveway because I knew he run over someone. I got there, and the poor young lady, she was, she, she had this hole in her head and her back was broken in two. Her eyes were open and she was dead."
With first responders arriving, Peneha did what he could.
"I ran into the mosque and I got as far as the front door and there were three men in a pool of blood in front and I wanted to go inside and help, but I just couldn't get past that point," he told Newshub.
"I tried to help, I tried to help them, I got as many as I could but I couldn't help them all."
"Really, I'm no hero, I was there, that's all, and I tried to help, I just wish I could have helped more."
Peneha's home remains behind the cordon on Saturday night. He has no clothes, no car, and is relying on friends tonight.
It will be days before he can return home.
Newshub.
