Police Commissioner Mike Bush told a 4 a.m. ET press conference that 49 people were dead with dozens of others injured. Bush said a man aged in his late 20s had been charged with murder.

“This is one of New Zealand’s darkest days,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “Clearly, what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”

Ardern described the incident as a terrorist attack, adding that it appeared to have been well-planned.

“These are people who I would describe as having extremist views, that have absolutely no place in New Zealand and in fact have no place in the world,” she said.