Auckland terror attack: Glen Eden residents shocked terrorist lived in community

Sunday, 5 September 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the attacker was a known terrorist threat and under 24/7 surveillance by police. It was the surveillance team who shot him dead at the supermarket.

Residents of a West Auckland community are still in shock that a man who would go on to commit a terrorist attack at their local shopping mall lived among them.

Seven people were injured by Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen in an Isis-inspired attack at Countdown in New Lynn’s LynnMall on Friday afternoon.

Samsudeen was shot dead by police, bringing an end to months of constant surveillance and years of growing concern over his extremist views.

It has since been revealed that the 32-year-old Sri Lankan national was living at Masjid-E-Bilal on Waikaukau Rd in Glen Eden.

Iasinito Manu was shocked to learn the terrorist lived so close to his home.

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Police have been at the Glen Eden mosque where the terrorist lived since Friday’s attack.

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Resident of Glen Eden’s Waikaukau Rd Iasinito Manu said it was important to remember one man’s actions don’t reflect a whole community.

Iasinito Manu, who has lived on Waikaukau Rd for the past three years, said the news had come as a shock to his community.

“For it to be so close to home, it’s shocking,” Manu said.

“We thought all that stuff died out with the Christchurch one. We didn’t think it would happen again.”

Manu was at work on Friday when he learnt of the attack – and police had been at the mosque “24/7” ever since.

Police at the scene of the terrorist attack at Countdown in Lynnmall on Friday afternoon.

The 23-year-old said there were always officers standing guard as well as forensics teams coming into conduct an investigation.

He wasn’t aware of any police visiting his home in relation to the investigation.

Ahamed Aathill Mohammed Samsudeen injured seven people in the supermarket attack.

Although Manu didn’t know Samsudeen, he said his face was familiar.

Many people from the mosque would walk down the street and say hello as they went past.

“He looks like someone I’ve seen before,” Manu said.

“It is scary, it just goes to show it’s not really safe out here in the real world.”

While the terrorist attack showed Manu that such events could happen “anywhere, anytime”, he said it was important to only blame the person involved.

“With all this going on, the last thing we want is letting one person dictate a whole community of people.

“We can’t let one person represent that community.”

Glen Eden Residents Association chairman Ruben Penning said the group had been shocked to learn he lived in their community.

“We are dismayed that someone of that nature lived so close to us.”

Penning said the association wanted to thank the New Zealand Police for its quick action in dealing with the attack.

“We send our well-wishes, love, and support to the victims and the families of the victims.”

The seven people who were injured in the attack are aged between 29 and 77.

Five were stabbed, and one suffered a dislocated shoulder, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said previously.

A seventh victim received a minor injury, which he tended to himself at home.

On Sunday, three of those remain in Auckland City Hospital in a critical, but stable condition.

Another person is also still in hospital in a stable condition, a police spokeswoman confirmed.