Atta Mohammed Elayyan ( ar, عطا عليان; 21 June 1985 – 15 March 2019) was a Jordanian-New Zealand

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

player, coach, businessman, and developer. As a futsal player, Elayyan played on the

New Zealand national futsal team The New Zealand national futsal team, nicknamed the Futsal Whites, is the representative side for New Zealand in international futsal and is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The nickname is a reference to the New Zealand national football ...

and coached for the

Christchurch Boys' High School , motto_translation = I Seek Higher Things , type = State school, Day and Boarding school , gender = Boys , song = The School We Magnify , colours = Blue and Black , established = , address = 71 Straven ...

. As a businessman and developer, he founded several businesses including Lazyworm Applications and LWA Solutions. He was murdered in the

Christchurch mosque shootings On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosq ...

Early life

Atta Mohammed Elayyan was born in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

, to parents Maysoon Salama and Mohammed Elayyan. However, he grew up in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

. He was of Palestinian ancestry, and his father was from the

Abu Dis Abu Dis or Abu Deis ( ar, أبو ديس) is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, bordering Jerusalem. Since the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Abu Dis land has been mostly part of " Area B", un ...

area of East Jerusalem. Beginning in the early 1990s, Elayyan lived in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 Unite ...

, where his father established a mosque and school. There he attended Wilson Elementary School. He later moved to Christchurch, as a

preteen Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is ...

, and attended

and the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

's computer science programme. His father, Mohammed Elayyan, co-founded one of the Christchurch mosques in 1993, a year after arriving in New Zealand. From 2002 until 2008, Elayyan was a member of the New Zealand–based ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preve ...

'' team called NewType. He played '' Counter-Strike: Source'' professionally in this time, and won several competitions. While a member of the ''Counter-Strike'' community, Elayyan participated in tournaments and posted on forums under the nicknames crazyarab and Cr@zyArab.

Futsal career

Elayyan was the goalkeeper for the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

United Futsal Dragons and had made 19 appearances for the New Zealand national futsal team. He won two national titles with the Canterbury team and was the recipient of

New Zealand Football New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...

's futsal player of the year award in 2014. Elayyan had been coaching the

futsal team that had entered the secondary schools' national competition. This tournament was set to start on 25 March 2019.

Business career

In 2010 he co-founded Lazyworm Applications, a business specializing in the delivery of applications on Microsoft platforms. Lazyworm Applications were responsible for building a top-selling YouTube app on the Microsoft platform, called MetroTube, and a Twitter app also on the Microsoft platform, called Tweetro. He founded its services arm, LWA Solutions, in 2012, and remained its CEO until his death. He was also awarded the prestigious Microsoft MVP award during this period. During his time as CEO, LWA Solutions undertook major ventures with many of New Zealand's largest companies and corporations, including major virtual reality technology for

Ports of Auckland Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fa ...

which has been described as a world first.Christchurch developers produce "world-first" VR app for Ports of Auckland
" ''reseller.co.nz'' Retrieved 19 March 2019. LWA Solutions was a finalist in the 2015 Microsoft Partner Awards.

Death

On 15 March 2019, Elayyan was fatally shot during the

. After his death, several donation initiatives were started by close friends to assist Elayyan's family, including a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

campaign that raised more than £25,000 and a ''Give A Little'' campaign that raised about $196,000. Mohammed Elayyan was also shot and wounded in the attacks but survived. Elayyan was married and is survived by his wife and daughter, who was 2 years old at the time of his death. The couple married in 2015, and she is from Jordan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elayyan, Atta 1985 births 2019 deaths Christchurch mosque shootings Futsal goalkeepers New Zealand men's futsal players New Zealand Muslims New Zealand terrorism victims Deaths by firearm in New Zealand Jordanian emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand people of Palestinian descent Jordanian people of Palestinian descent New Zealand business executives People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School University of Canterbury alumni Mass murder victims