Syrian father & son killed in Christchurch mosque shooting

Khaled Mustafa, 43, a riding instructor from Damascus, was killed along with his son Hamza, 14, a promising show jumper.

Hamza’s brother Zaid, 12, has been in a critical but stable condition in hospital after being hit by three bullets.

“Khaled went with Hamza and Zaid to the mosque for Friday prayer and the terrorist came,” Aslan Mustafa, Khaled’s brother, told The Sunday Times from Jordan. “Some people took Khaled to hospital and he died on the road.”

It was a brutal end for a family who had survived war and had started a hopeful new chapter in their lives.

Syrian Solidarity NZ posted to Facebook saying while the boy is in a stable condition, he does not know that both his father and brother have been killed. Their younger sister does not know either.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to this family and all the families affected by this atrocious act of terror that has certainly terrorised New Zealand as a whole," the post read.

Spokesman Ali Akil said Mustafa's wife and daughter, who were not at the mosque on Friday, were in "total shock, devastation and horror".

"The devastated and deeply horrified mother is at the same time trying to look after her hospitalised son," the Facebook post read.

Akil added: "They survived atrocities and arrived here in a safe haven, only to be killed in the most atrocious way.

Based on the Times, NZ Herald