Christchurch terror attack inquest: Paramedic entered Al Noor Mosque, contrary to St John policy, to save lives

By RNZ

A senior paramedic chose to enter Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque to treat seriously injured worshippers following the terror attack despite the danger and against St John policy, an inquest has heard.

Dean Brown was one of the first paramedics to go into the Deans Ave mosque where dozens of people lay badly injured, dying or dead following the massacre on March 15, 2019.

He told the Coroner’s court it was the first time he had been escorted somewhere by armed police and he chose to go inside, even though it was against St John policy to enter unsafe scenes.

“My sole purpose in going inside was because I believed there were human beings inside that needed help. That was what drove me inside despite the circumstances on the day,” he said.

The inquest has previously heard police were worried there were a further nine shooters in Christchurch as a result of false information the terrorist gave to police arresting him.

Once inside the mosque, Brown said he was confronted by the magnitude of the scene and started rapidly assessing patients and getting those who were most likely to survive to hospital as fast as possible.

That meant some patients who were not expected to survive were left for further assessment later, including one person with a serious brain injury.

Once all patients were transported to hospital, Brown said he did a final check of all victims to make sure no one left was still alive.

“We would not have left anybody that we thought was alive,” he told the court.

Checks included looking for movement, skin tone, positioning, and assessing responsiveness to sound or stimuli, although not every victim was physically assessed, Brown said.

Nikki Pender - counsel for some families. Photo / Ian McGregor, Pool

Asked under cross-examination about the treatment of Tariq Omar, who died in the attack, Brown accepted it was possible he was not physically examined.

Omar’s injuries were not instantaneously fatal.

Brown told family lawyer Nikki Pender victims were continuously checked for a response, but he did not touch or speak individually to Omar.

“I don’t remember actually touching him, I don’t know whether any of my colleagues did,” he said.

“We made a good amount of noise; we called out for a response from all of them throughout the entire process and we had no response. I believe we tried to verbally get response from all of the people within the mosque.”

Brown said that without specialist equipment, he would not have been able to be 100 per cent certain every remaining victim had died.

Given the circumstances on the day and the risk involved, including a backpack that was considered a potential improvised explosive device (IED), remaining in the mosque to do so was not possible, he said.

The inquest will examine the following 10 issues over six weeks:

• The events of March 15, 2019 from the commencement of the attack until the terrorist’s formal interview by police
• The response times and entry processes of police and ambulance officers at each mosque
• The triage and medical response at each mosque
• The steps that were taken to apprehend the offender
• The role of, and processes undertaken by, Christchurch Hospital in responding to the attack
• Co-ordination between emergency services and first responders
• Whether the terrorist had any direct assistance from any other person on March 15, 2019
• If raised by immediate family, and to the extent it can be ascertained, the final movements and time of death for each of the deceased
• The cause of death for each of the victims and whether any deaths could have been avoided
• Whether Al Noor Mosque’s emergency exit door in the southeast corner of the main prayer room failed to function during the attack and, if so, why.

The inquest continues.