A man lay on the ground of a mosque pretending to be dead after he was shot in the leg during the mass shooting in Christchurch on Friday.

Mustafa Boztas was listening to the sermon inside the Masjid Al Noor mosque when he heard gunshots during Jumma prayers, according to the New Zealand website ‘Stuff’.

‘Everyone started running and screaming,’ he said.

Boztas ran to the corner of the room and was shot in the leg by the shooter and fell to the ground.

‘I was on the ground faking it that I was dead ... in my mind I was calm because I would be a martyr,’ he said.

Once the gunfire stopped, Boztas put his head up and saw another man running away towards the window and escaped.

Once outside, he saw a young high school student on the ground in the car park.

‘I did CPR as I have my first aid certificate. I tried save him with one leg shot but unfortunately he was already passed away so I closed his eyes and heard more shooting so I ran.’

Of the 49 people killed in the shootings, 41 people were killed at the Masjid Al Noor mosque.

A ‘heartbroken’ Boztas was now in hospital with a gunshot wound to his right leg and possible liver damage.

‘I am feeling a lot of abdominal pain and leg pain. I can’t move my right leg,’ he added.