Police have yet to confirm the details but eyewitnesses are saying there has been a serious mass shooting at a mosque in the New Zealand city.
Mohan Ibn Ibrahim told CNN he was inside the mosque when the shooting began.
"There were more than 200 people inside. The gunman came from the backside. Gunshots went on for a long time. We had to jump the wall to escape," he said.
He told CNN that he saw several bodies lying on the ground in the mosque after the shooting had begun.