Family escapes Syrian war only to be gunned down in New Zealand mosque shooting

Among those killed in the New Zealand mosque shooting were members of a Circassian family who had just been relocated to New Zealand three months ago after fleeing the Syrian war.

The family's plight has become an instant focus for the tight-knit Circassian community in New Jersey.

At her Haledon home, Rouzana Muhajer was crying and scanning social media for news of the mosque shooting Friday when she got word that her childhood friend had been at one of the two mosques where the massacre unfolded.

The friend, Salwa Tsay, escaped, but her husband, Khaled Mustafa, a horse trainer, and her son Hamza, 14, an award-winning equestrian, were killed. Another son, Zaid, 12, was shot three times and remains in critical condition. The refugee family had escaped the Syrian war but knew no one in New Zealand.

So on Monday morning, Muhajer and friend Sahab Dabet boarded a flight out of Newark Liberty International Airport headed to New Zealand via Los Angeles to offer their condolences and help. With them, they bring a united message of support from the Circassian community, who in diaspora around the world have rallied around this family.

"We feel her pain because she is a mother and we are mothers," Muhajer said. "Let me put myself in her situation. Here we have a lot of Circassian people around us to support us, but there she is by herself. She needs support and she needs care. She needs us to stand with her."

The two women, who live two blocks apart in Haledon, quickly packed their suitcases Sunday night amid a stream of visitors who came to wish them goodbye and pledge any kind of support the family might need from abroad, financial or otherwise.

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Other countries, like Pakistan and Jordan, have ambassadors and consulates to offer aid to immigrants affected by the terror attack on two Christchurch mosques that killed 50 people and wounded dozens more.

But the Circassians have no country and no government to offer help. The majority were violently driven out of the Caucasus region in 1864 by Russia. Most live in Turkey, but others are scattered across the globe in the U.S., Syria, Lebanon and several European countries.

That includes a tight-knit community in New Jersey that numbers around 6,000, said Zack Barsik, president of the Circassian Cultural Institute based in Wayne.

Within hours, through word of mouth and social media, they had raised the $5,000 to pay the round-trip airfare to New Zealand. 

"First of all, as a Muslim I was devastated and completely shocked because of New Zealand," Barsik said. "It's a paradise. When I found out a few hours later it was a Circassian and one we all knew, let’s just say the world starts shrinking around you."

Muhajer grew up with Tsay in a suburb of Damascus and studied in college with her before moving to the United States in 1997. Tsay became an elementary school teacher, while her husband worked with horses in a culture that highly values horsemanship. 

When the atrocities of war became too great to bear, they left their home four years ago for Jordan and registered as refugees. The United Nations placed the family — the married couple, two sons and a daughter, who is now 10 and was uninjured in the attack — in New Zealand.

The family wanted to come to the United States, where they have relatives and friends. The United Nations refugee program prefers to place people in countries where they have personal connections, but a travel ban imposed by the Trump administration has prevented Syrian refugees from settling here for nearly two years.

Although they'd been in New Zealand only a short time, Mustafa had already found work shoeing horses. Online, hundreds of New Zealanders and fellow equestrians have written to say how sorry they are. Those who knew him talked about his kindness and pride in his family. Mustafa was praying with his two sons at Al Noor mosque in Christchurch when the shooter opened fire.

In New Zealand, Muhajer and Dabet hope to offer emotional support to Tsay and help with care for her 10-year-old daughter. Their friends and family say they're a good pair to make the trip. The two women are already known for helping Syrian refugees in New Jersey with fundraisers, paperwork guidance, furniture assistance and other needs.

Dabet said she felt compelled to travel to New Zealand and help, even though she does not personally know Tsay.

"We have to do something," Dabet said. "We have to help this family, to support them emotionally, whatever we can."

Tsay's two brothers and mother live in Turkey, but as refugees with Syrian passports they are currently unable to travel to New Zealand. United States travelers don't need a visa for New Zealand.

In Turkey, officials are working to get permission to send at least one brother to be with Tsay, said Didem Baj, a member of the Circassian Federation of Turkey, in a phone interview.

Turkish officials also offered to bring the family remains to their country for burial. But for now, Tsay does not want to leave. She's staying by her son's side, and she wants to see the case go forward in the courts. 

"They want him to see justice," Baj said.