Kiwi shot twice in Kenya terror attack says Christchurch massacre 'like re-watching' past trauma

Andrew McLaren and his wife Kathy, making the most of life in Avondale after surviving the 2013 Nairobi shopping mall mass shooting terror attack.

Andrew McLaren watched breaking news of the Christchurch terror attacks on TV with a horror that was achingly familiar.

Until our "darkest day" of March 15, McLaren was one of a mere handful of Kiwis who had directly, and violently, been assaulted by terrorism.

In September 2013, he was shot twice, in the back and shoulder, in the Nairobi shopping mall mass shooting in which four armed Islamic extremists killed 71 people.

Watching the Christchurch mosque shootings unfold last Friday, as he and five mates were preparing to attend a Slayer gig, brought back a flood of unwanted memories.

"For me it was almost like re-watching it all over again," the 40-year-old Aucklander said.

"Seeing the rolling headlines claiming this was happening in New Zealand ... we were quite upset, to know this has actually come to our country.

"All the friends we made in Kenya were seeing it as well and I was getting messages left right and centre."

McLaren formed a uniquely close bond with some of the fellow survivors of the Kenyan attacks, and he expected a similar phenomenon will emerge out of Christchurch.

"That bond's still there five years later, and I think that's something people are definitely going to experience out of this [Christchurch attack]," he said.

"We all chat together on a monthly basis. When we came back to New Zealand, there was no one here that had the same experiences. So all of a sudden we were out of that bubble and comfort zone so to speak.

"That was very hard for us to deal with for a wee while. But having all these people who have experienced this event here in New Zealand, the support there is going to be a lot more than what we had."

McLaren managed a miraculous physical recovery from his 2013 injuries, which included a bullet lodged in his shoulder and one just millimetres from his heart. He also sustained grenade shrapnel to his side.

After three surgeries, he was back in New Zealand and working again as a construction manager within five weeks of being shot.

"I had a very positive attitude about everything. If I was lying in bed 'woe is me' and that sort of thing it would have been a lot longer, but I was just happy to be alive," McLaren said.

What he has not been able to shed as easily as his injures, is a lasting, precise memory of the moments of the attack.

"Oh everything slowed down. The music that was playing on the cafe radio, incidentally it was Children by Robert Miles," he says.

"I could tell you clothes everyone was wearing. It was like I just took a snapshot in my mind and I can remember everything to this day.

"We had this real rush of adrenalin. I lost a kilo-and-a-half of flesh out of the side of my back and I had my hand literally inside of me and I was running."

McLaren said the attacks definitively reveal New Zealand as "no longer immune to what's been happening around the world", but they don't define us.

"It doesn't show that this is what New Zealand is," McLaren said.

"Just like the attack in Kenya, the four gunman, even though they were Muslim, I have no qualms whatsoever that Islam was not part of that attack. It was four Somali people who wanted to cause an issue."

As a past victim of terrorism, he also holds optimism for those directly suffering now in Christchurch.

"I think as a victim they will understand the love and support of New Zealand and our culture," McLaren said.

"I think it's going to make New Zealand more tolerant, more understanding of other cultures and religions and people.

"I think five, 10 years down the track we will become a greater nation from this bad event.

"We will look back at this as a really dark day but I think there's going to be a lot of love that's going to come out of this."

The events in Christchurch are distressing. If you, or someone you know, needs mental wellbeing support or advice then call or text 1737 anytime. There is advice on coping after a traumatic event here. It includes information for parents for children.