Accused New Zealand mosque shooter charged with terrorism

New Zealand police on Tuesday filed a terrorism charge against the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques.

Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 28, was already facing murder and attempted murder charges from the March 15 shootings.

The new charge comes with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment upon conviction and will be a test case for New Zealand’s terrorism laws, which came onto the books in 2002 following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.