Hisharm Alzarzour survived the Christchurch Mosque shootings, but his friend Khaled Mustafa wasn't so lucky. Video / Dean Purcell
He chose New Zealand over his war-torn homeland because he thought it would be the safest place in the world for his young family.
But just seven months later Syrian refugee Hisharm Alzarzour was lying in a mosque under a dead body as a gunman opened fire on worshippers includinghis best friend.
Alzarzour, 33, spoke to the Weekend Herald from his hospital bed on Friday.
He was shot three times in the Al Noor mosque attack on March 15 and was crushed under the weight of several bodies, fearing any moment the gunman would end his life and take him away forever from his wife and three children.
"Until now, I don't really believe it happened," he said.
Alzarzour had been picked up for prayer that day by his good friend Khaled Mustafa.
He didn't have a car so Mustafa always picked up him on his way to the mosque.
The men were both born and raised in Syria near the captial Damascus.
Hisharm Alzarzour was shot and survived. But his friend Khaled Mustafa was not so lucky. Photo / Dean Purcell
They did not meet until after they had both fled to Jordan as refugees.
The men became fast friends - as did their wives.
They spoke daily and when they were asked if they wanted to move to New Zealand, both families jumped at the chance.
Alzarzour and his wife Susan packed up their daughters Rena, now 8, Roua 1, and son Zead, 7 and made the journey to Christchurch.
Mustafa, his teenage boys Hamza and Zaid and wife Salwa did the same.
A third family joined them and settled in Timaru.
Two months before the terror attack Alzarzour - who holds a Masters Degree in geography and was a teacher in Syria - got his first Kiwi job working as a builder and plasterer.
"Every day I called Khaled for half an hour and talked to him about what I was doing," Alzarzour said.
"Every two or three days he came to my house and we drank coffee, we sat together and talked.
"Every Friday he would come and take me to the mosque, I went with him and his family…. Every Friday."
Zaid Mustafa and his mother Salwa, during their emotional media conference in Christchurch. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The men thought their lives were made - their wives and children were happy, they had jobs, happiness, security and finally they felt safe and settled.
"We did not know what it was, we thought it was someone playing a game - or maybe something was wrong with the electricity, we just didn't realise it was shooting."
Alzarzour recalls the moment he realised what was happening in his mosque - a place he had always felt, and should have always been safe.
"We looked to the front door and we could see bullets coming everywhere," he said, his eyes darkening at the recollection.
"He was shooting the walls, the roof, then the people started to run... "
Alzarzour tried to run but he tripped and fell, then was crushed by people desperately trying to escape the relentless gunfire.
"A big man fell on top of me, another to my left and one to my right," he said.
"The shooter was just shooting all of the people."
Hisharm Alzarzour was shot and survived. But his friend Khaled Mustafa was not so lucky. Photo / Dean Purcell
Alzarzour was struck in both legs, and was terrified that the gunman would realise he was not dead under the bodies of his brothers, and finish him off.
"Every two or three minutes the shooter would shoot another shot at us… I thought at any second the bullet would come at my head… In my mind I was just thinking of my wife, my children."
Alzarzour estimates he lay under the bodies, bleeding and scared, for about 17 minutes.
"That 17 minutes was unbelieveable… I don't know how I could survive," he said.
"Anyone who made a sound, anyone who made a breath - (the shooter) would finish them.
"I was terrified the shooter would come to me… Every few minutes he would stop for a short time, he must have been changing his gun, then he would start again.
"Every time I thought he was finished, then he would come back again.
"The last time he stopped shooting I decided I would not move until I heard people talk or cry out or people from outside come into the mosque.
"I thought 'I will not move'."
The crying soon began.
Shouts of "are you ok" and "please help me" rang out through the once peaceful mosque which was now the scene of New Zealand's worst mass shooting.
