How accused gunman went from ‘ordinary’ family life to terrorism
Brenton Tarrant is the son of an English teacher and a beloved athlete, who wrote to his mother as he travelled. All the while, he was building his hatred.
In 2013, heavy metal fan Brenton Tarrant wrote a chatty message to his mother Sharon about attending a Black Sabbath concert and seeing glaciers on New Zealand’s picturesque South Island.
But the alleged terrorist, accused of killing 50 people and injuring 36 in Friday’s Christchurch shooting, had already started to nurse disturbing radical views.
Tarrant’s father Rodney had died aged 49 three years earlier, when his son was 19. His obituary said he died from cancer, but the Daily Telegraph reported that he took his own life after he was diagnosed with the asbestos-caused mesothelioma, and his son and daughter found his body.
A year after his father’s death, the accused mass shooter wrote in a post on a stocks forum: “Recently came into contact with a bit of capital due to the passing away of my father … Really don’t want to lose the money as he paid for it with 30+ years of his life.”
In the same post, seen by The Australian, he described himself as “extremely confident in every situation but talking over the phone”. He boasted that he ran daily fitness classes for around 20 people at a time, who stared at him and mimicked his movements. “I enjoy it,” he added. “My self respect is through the roof, I can truly do anything I put my mind to.”
Tarrant said he dreamt of “playing video games, snorting coke and hiring strippers”, describing himself as “the strongest person (pound for pound) in my town” and a “monster of willpower”.
Using his inheritance and cash he made from trading cryptocurrency, he set out to travel the world, honing his extremist views as he flitted from country to country in between trips back to New Zealand over the next seven years.
‘ORDINARY WHITE MAN’
The accused killer grew up in the northeastern New South Wales town of Grafton with his mother, father and sister Lauren. He later wrote online that he was an “ordinary white man” from a “working class, low-income family”. Neighbours said they were “good Catholics”.
Photos from his childhood show a blond-haired boy wrapped in the arms of his father, described in his obituary as a “dedicated family man” and “competitive athlete”.
The alleged killer’s mother, an English teacher, cradles Lauren — who shared Tarrant’s love of metal bands including Tool.
The parents separated soon after but Rodney “remained committed to his children” until his death, according to an obituary. “Rodney had a very friendly, gentle nature, he never said a bad word about anyone,” said his mother Joyce.
At sports-mad Grafton High School, Tarrant joined the under-15s rugby league team, but he did not share his marathon-running father’s prowess, and struggled with his weight. In a team photo, he stares defiantly at the camera from the back left corner.
“There was a time when he was picked on pretty badly and I had to just go out of my way to have a yarn with him,” former Grafton Ghosts junior rugby league teammate Daniel Tuite told The Australian.
“Grafton can be a pretty harsh place … so if you’re overweight and a bit what some people might call useless on the field, you’re going to probably get picked on. That’s why he just kept himself to himself.”
‘BUFFED UP’ WEIRDO
Tarrant was never an enthusiastic student. In the disturbing 74-page manifesto detailing his extremist views about defending the “white race” from “invaders”, Tarrant described his childhood as “regular” and “without any great issues”, but said he “barely achieved a passing grade” at school.
A knee injury was the catalyst that turned the bullied teenager into a gym fanatic obsessed with bodybuilding, and he started working at Big River Gym in Grafton, volunteering to help train young people.
“Floored” gym owner Tracey Gray told stuff.co.nz he “showed a lot of dedication” and gained personal training qualifications before leaving on his travels.
“I think something must have changed in him during the years he spent travelling overseas,” Ms Gray told the ABC. “Somewhere along the lines, experiences or a group have got a hold of him.”
But a gym-goer named Jo told the Telegraph he was “awkward”, while another woman called him a “creep” who would “sleaze on to girls” with little success and “was not well-liked”.
At around this time, mental health workers became aware of Tarrant, and he became known as “an intense guy who had issues with minorities, particularly immigrants and women”. A doctor said he also had “some issue with his mother”.
Neighbours in New Zealand’s South Island city of Dunedin called Tarrant a “recluse” and said he rapidly “buffed up” in the months leading up to Friday’s attack. Local hotel manager Justin told news.com.au that Tarrant seemed weird and gave off a “certain vibe” that made him “wary”.
‘TERRIFIED MY TO MY CORE’
The video game addict also joined another kind of club in South Otago, about 50 kilometres south of Dunedin. This was the Bruce Rifle Club, where he honed his shooting prowess in target practice sessions with a group of oddballs at a sprawling range surrounded by a pine forest.
Pete Breidahl, a former military machine gunner, told stuff.co.nz he became worried the club could be a terrorist breeding ground after he heard members talking about mass shootings, the zombie apocalypse and Martin Bryant, who carried out the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
He lodged a formal complaint with the Dunedin police station arms officer, but was told officers were aware of the club and not concerned about it.
“The conversations I had and the people I met literally terrified me to my core,” Mr Breidahl said, adding that they were discussing “homicidal fantasies” and were “not f***ing right”.
In Facebook posts obtained by news.com.au, a hunter described horrifying conversations overheard during a shooting session attended by Tarrant and friends at the remote rifle club.
The post — from November 2017, when Tarrant began stockpiling firearms — says “one in particular had me really worried”.
News.com.au confirmed the man being referred to was Tarrant.
“He was complaining about skateboarding kids at the uni saying if they can carry their boards then he should be allowed to carry a gun,” the post read.
The hunter updated his comment on Saturday, saying: “I’d warned the police about the rifle club where he trained … un f***ing believable.”
He claimed police told him “they are a strange bunch” but “they are harmless enough”.
He said: “My day with (Tarrant) had me shaken to say the least.”
Dunedin hunter Tristan, 34, told news.com.au he observed Tarrant exhibiting some unsettling behaviour at the range. “He shot like he meant it and with high powered (weapons). You don’t need all that for hunting animals, which we do humanely,” Tristan said.
‘THAT’S A TWISTED MIND’
On Friday afternoon, Tarrant allegedly live-streamed the 16-minute sickening attack on the Linwood and Al Noor mosques in Christchurch.
His manifesto, sent to a generic address for NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern minutes before the attack, contained hate-filled rants about immigration and frequent references to his travels in Central Asia, China, Africa and Europe, where he is thought to have finessed his twisted ideology.
Britain’s MI5 is reportedly looking into links that Tarrant may have made with far-right extremist groups in the UK, while officials in Turkey and Bulgaria are also investigating his visits to their countries.
Social media places him in Pakistan in October of last year and in North Korea, where he was photographed in a tour group visiting the Samjiyon Grand Monument.
Bulgarian sources told the New Zealand Herald they had noticed Cyrillic script and eastern European inscriptions in the bloodthirsty footage and on automatic rifle magazines left at the scene. They included the names of famous battles and historical figures who fought against Ottoman rule.
Tarrant showed little remorse as he appeared in a Christchurch court on Saturday charged with one count of murder, smirking at the media and flashing a white supremacist hand signal. He is expected to face further charges when he returns to court on April 5.
His mother and sister approached the police after hearing the news. They were cross-examined and taken into custody for their protection, and officers were later seen searching their homes near Grafton. Neither has spoken publicly.
Other family members said they were “shattered” and “devastated” by the news.
His grandmother Joyce Tarrant, 94, told The Sun: “Brenton was never the same again” after his father’s death. “I begged them to take him to get counselling but he never went.”
His other grandmother, Marie Fitzgerald, told Nine he spent most of his time “learning the ins and outs of computers and playing games on computers” and girlfriends were not “on the agenda”. One relative told the Telegraph Tarrant was so obsessed with video games including World Of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto and would urinate on the floor rather than take a break.
Tarrant returned to Grafton a year ago for his sister’s birthday, but there were no signs he was not “his normal self”, she said. “It’s only since he travelled overseas I think that this boy has changed completely to the boy we knew,” she said.
Tarrant’s uncle Terry Fitzgerald issued an apology on behalf of the family. “We are so sorry for the families over there, for the dead and injured,” he said. “I thought it could not be then I saw his photo … it’s just not right ... it’s unrepairable.”
The alleged mass murderer’s cousin Donna Cox said it “hurt” to be related to him. “He is from … a very respected family, his mum, his dad, were pretty high in the community here,” she told Sunday Night. “He wasn’t raised like that, but I’m not here to defend him. If I could ask him — I’d ask him why. How could you do that?”
She said Tarrant should face the death penalty.
“That’s a twisted mind right there. You’d have to be to be able to do something like that.”
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