The Christchurch Attack's Financial Blueprint

Attack Profile

On March 15^th, 2019, 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant killed 51 people and injured 40 more when he opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Australian citizen was sentenced to life in prison without parole for conducting the mass shooting. In response to the event, the government established a Royal Commission to analyze the attack while examining the work of national security agencies. The report was published publicly in December 2020 and included extensive details on Tarrant, including his financial activity leading up to the attack. Drawing on the Commission’s findings, this article outlines the various costs associated with the Christchurch mass shooting and how Tarrant funded the attack.

Attack Summary

On the morning of March 15^th, 2019, Tarrant drove 360km from his city of Dunedin to Christchurch. Upon arriving to Christchurch at approximately 1:30 pm, he turned on the GoPro attached to his helmet and began live-streaming to Facebook. He then drove up to Al Noor Mosque and exited his vehicle.

At 1:40 pm he approached the front door of the building, armed with a shotgun and semi-automatic rifle, and opened fire at worshippers. Six minutes later, he drove to Linwood Mosque and continued his attack. Tarrant left IEDs in the vicinity of both mosques, although the devices did not end up detonating.

In these two attacks, he killed over 50 worshippers and injured an additional 40 between the two locations. Tarrant then got back in his car and attempted to drive to another mosque in Ashburton approximately 90km southwest of Christchurch. Police vehicles pursued him, and a few minutes later they apprehended him.

In the lead up to the attack, Tarrant generating a significant financial trail that, had law enforcement or security services been paying attention, would have provided strong indications as to his plans and intentions.

All costs are provided in NZD

Weapons and Ammunition Costs

In terms of weaponry, Tarrant used a Mossberg 930 semiautomatic shotgun and AR-15-style rifle during the attack. However, he also had three other firearms in his vehicle. He modified the firearms in several ways, such as adding sights to improve accuracy as well as attaching strobe lights to disorient his targets. He also purchased magazine couplers to allow him to reload quicker and had a bayonet knife and scabbard on him. Finally, as Tarrant originally planned to burn down the mosques, he also had four gas containers in his vehicle that had gun oil spray duct-taped onto them to work as an accelerant. All of his weapons were purchased legally from New Zealand-based stores.

The full list of firearms that Tarrant purchased while living in New Zealand is outlined in the following table:

Table 1: Firearms purchased by Tarrant

Tarrant also purchased significant amounts of ammunition. As New Zealand does not require gun stores to keep records of ammunition purchases, the total cost is unknown. However, there are financial records of Tarrant purchasing NZD$1,358 worth of 2,000 rounds of .223 calibre Remington 55Gr SP. He made an additional 11 purchases online between December 5, 2017, and July 12, 2018, as outlined in the table below.

Table 2: Ammunition purchased by Tarrant

Tarrant also purchased several magazines to store the ammunition in the firearm, as listed below:

Table 3: Magazines Purchased by Tarrant

The total cost of weapons used in the Christchurch shootings is categorized in the following table. Since the exact quantity of ammunition and magazines used throughout Tarrant’s shooting practice and during the attack itself is unknown, the total costs for those items are included.

Table 4: Cost of Weapons/Components Used in Attack

Travel Costs

The Royal Commission found that Tarrant had plans to conduct the terrorist attack by January 2017; therefore the flight to Auckland and subsequent travel to Dunedin were some of the first expenses associated with the attack. A ticket from Brisbane to Dunedin averages around NZD$400, with a one-way ticket from Auckland to Dunedin averaging around NZD$80. As the attack was in Christchurch, he also paid approximately NZD$78.25 for the one-way trip from Dunedin.

In the year and a half between arriving in New Zealand and conducting the attack, Tarrant also traveled to Japan, Australia, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Tarrant’s Poland trip was a part of his planning efforts. In December 2018, Tarrant traveled to Poland in an attempt to create a trail of evidence that he received a “blessing” from Anders Breivik as well as Breivik’s organization – the Knight’s Templar. Tarrant was in the country for approximately 10 days and likely spent between $1000-$1500 for transportation, food, and accommodations. Ultimately, Tarrant admitted that he did not actually receive the blessing, but he still took elaborate steps to travel to Poland and make it seem believable. The Commission found that, other than Tarrant’s trip to Poland, the rest of his travel was not necessarily relevant to the inquiry and is therefore not included in this cost analysis.

Table 5: Cost of Tarrant’s Travel

Operational Security Costs

Tarrant had several expenses associated with maintaining his operational security. According to his manifesto, he began planning the attack at least two years in advance. He initially considered attacking another Western country or conducting the attack in the city of Dunedin where he was located. Tarrant even visited the Dunedin Islamic Centre on January 11, 2019, although he ultimately decided against targeting the mosque. After visiting the Al Noor and Linwood Mosques in Christchurch, he decided to target these mosques because they had been converted from churches to mosques. Those mosques held large crowds of mostly adult worshippers, and were in strategic locations due to their easy access and escape potential.

Tarrant likely made several reconnaissance trips to Christchurch to prepare for the attack, although only one is specified in the Commission report. About two months before the attack on January 8, 2019, he drove to Christchurch via Ashburton. Upon arriving at the mosques, he used his drone to reconnoiter the sites and plan both attack and escape routes.

Tarrant also took considerable effort to socially isolate himself and worked methodologically to avoid attracting suspicion. This included taking significant precautions when browsing and interacting online. He used VPNs to communicate on forums, encrypted emails to communicate with himself, and the dark web to make purchases.

Table 6: Tarrant’s Operational Security Costs

Other Equipment Costs

Tarrant drove a silver 2005 Subaru Outback that he purchased in Dunedin in August 2017 to the attack. While used car sales vary considerably, we estimate a mid-value model to be $7000.

He also wore tactical attire to the attack. The Commission report outlines that he purchased a military-style tactical vest, tactical gloves, two ballistic vests, body armour inserted into the ballistic vests, and a helmet used for airsoft sports. He also attached a GoPro to his helmet in order to live stream the attack. Most of the attire was bought online in 2017 and throughout 2018.

The Buffalo Shooting perpetrator also spent considerable funds on his tactical attire:

https://newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/buffalo-shooting-financing-terrorism

Table 7: Tarrant’s Other Equipment Costs

Training Costs

Tarrant trained for the attack by developing firearms expertise, improving his physical fitness at a gym, and taking steroids to bulk up. In terms of firearms training. Tarrant applied for a New Zealand firearms license in 2017 and was granted the license about three months after his arrival. The application fee for a standard New Zealand firearms license is $123.75, and is valid for ten years. He was also a member of two-gun clubs where he would go to practice. The annual subscription for the Bruce Rifle Club that Tarrant frequented is $70.

Tarrant also spent time and money to improve his physical fitness. He went to a local gym several days a week, which cost him $80 each month. He also used steroids, thus requiring him to purchase drugs as well as the required equipment. Although an accurate estimate of drug prices cannot be calculated without knowing the steroid type and dosage that Tarrant was using, we estimate the cost to be between $1000-$2000, given that New Zealand is geographically isolated and has a small population, factors which impacted the availability and cost of drugs.

While details on Tarrant’s drug supply are unknown, there is information concerning the equipment he purchased to ingest the drugs. On February 8, 2018, Tarrant bought 500 hypodermic needles, 300 syringes, and 200 alcohol swabs from a New Zealand-based medical supplies company, all documented by his Alipay transaction history. He had previously purchased smaller quantities from another New Zealand-based company in September 2017.

Table 8: Tarrant’s Training Expenses

Donations

Although Tarrant stated that the attack was not mounted by any organization and that he acted on his own, he did spend considerable time on online forums and even donated money to various extreme right-wing groups. He made several donations, outlined in the table below. Of note are his donations to several right-wing media channels, including an $152.50 donation to Freedomain Radio, a podcast and Youtube channel by Canadian Stefan Molyneaux.

According to the Commission report, while in New Zealand, Tarrant made at least another 11 donations to far-right groups and individuals through PayPal and Bitcoin. He also allegedly made other donations not listed in the report, such as a $50 donation to Australia’s United Patriots Front. Lastly, Tarrant supported far-right groups by purchasing books, ebooks, publications, and accessories to send to his family, although the exact costs of these items are unknown.

https://newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/financing-hate-patriot-front

Table 9: Tarrant’s Donations to Far-Right Groups and Individuals

Funding the Attack

The Christchurch attack was completely self-funded. Although Tarrant worked as a personal trainer in his hometown and received income from 2009-2011, he quit the position after being injured. The vast majority of Tarrant’s funds came from an inheritance of approximately $565,000 that he received after his father committed suicide in 2010. He also purchased a rental property with his sister in Australia and received payments from that. Finally, Tarrant received minor profits from cryptocurrency investments, although his banking records show that the transactions were limited and totaled less than $6500.

Upon arriving in New Zealand, Tarrant opened two bank accounts with ANZ Bank where he stored the money to pay for his expenses while in the country. The total amount in his account between August 23, 2017, and March 15, 2019, was approximately NZD $61,792 .

In an email to himself, Tarrant outlined his assets and expenses in preparation for the attack:

Although he planned out his finances to conduct the attack in August 2019, he ended up running out of money by early 2019, expediting his timeline.

With Tarrant’s outlined budget, we can calculate his approximate living expenses. As Tarrant moved to New Zealand in order to conduct the attack, they are included in the attack cost analysis.

Table 10: Tarrant’s Approximate Living Expenses

Ultimately, the Christchurch Attack was an expensive operation, costing upwards of NZD$77,000. This estimate is slightly higher than the analysis done by New Zealand Police which found the attack to cost NZD$60,000. The variance is likely due to the New Zealand Police estimate only taking into consideration the weapons and cost of living expenses.

Table 11: Total Cost Breakdown

Comparing the Christchurch Attack to Other Lone-Actor Attacks

The Christchurch attack was more deadly - and significantly more expensive - than many other lone-actor attacks. With the shooting costing over $50,000 USD, it was almost 5 times costlier than the 2022 Buffalo Shooting where Payton Gendron spent approximately $10,500 and murdered 10 people. When Alexandre Bissonnette killed 6 worshippers in his attack on a Quebec Mosque, he spent approximately $3000 to plan and carry out the shooting. Justin Bourque similarly spent $2500 to conduct his attack against RCMP officers during the 2014 Moncton Shootings. Tarrant’s costly preparation efforts resulted in an operation with a higher number of casualties than each of the other attacks combined, and is more comparable to the Oslo and Utoya attacks in Norway in 2011. There was an extensive money trail associated with Tarrant’s attack, but little law enforcement scrutiny of him in the lead-up, meaning that there was no one in a position to review and analyze the context and meaning behind this financial intelligence.

Learn more about lone actor financing by checking out the following article:

https://newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/financing-lone-actor-or-self-activating

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