• Ultimately, it said the family were thinking of the innocent people who were hurt

The family of Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, a 32-year-old refugee originally from Sri Lanka, was shot dead by police after stabbing six shoppers to death said they were horrified by it.
In a statement released via a lawyer and credited to Samsudeen’s brother, Aroos, said they wanted to send love and support to those who were hurt.

“We are so shaken by what has happened and we do not know what to do. We hope these words will help bring some peace to your beautiful country. We are ready to help you all in the healing process, no matter what is needed from us.
“We hope to find out with you all, what happened in Aathil’s case and what we all could have done to prevent this. We are heartbroken by this terrible event.
“My father still doesn’t know my brother is dead because he has been missing him so much and is very ill these days.”

The statement said Samsudeen, who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 on a student visa, suffered from “political torture” and his mental health steadily declined over the years.

Samsudeen spent a lot of time on social media, it said. “We saw his mental health got worse and worse during the last 10 years or so. He spent a lot of his time in prison and was always struggling with some court cases. When we heard that he was in prison in New Zealand, we thought it would do him some good, but didn’t realise he would spend so much time there. He also had many problems in prison.” Ultimately, it said the family were thinking of the innocent people who were hurt.