Meanwhile, police established a process code-named Operation Whakahaumanu to identify individuals who may have been holding extremist views and presented security risks to New Zealanders.
On March 17, 2019, two days after the attack, Mr X became a person of interest after he posted a recording on social media where he described witnessing the shooter’s behaviour at a gun club.
In the recording he said he was so concerned about what he had observed that he warned police about activity, but police failed to act on his warning.
Following his post, a detective contacted him and requested an interview about his knowledge of the gun club and shooter.