Sydney police on Monday revealed that the two suspected gunmen behind the massacre of 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach were a father and son. The attack, which is being viewed as a targeted antisemitic shooting, unfoled on Sunday evening, when the duo opened fire at a crowd of about 1,000.
Speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, law enforcement agencies said thay the gunmen have been identified as 24-year-old male Naveed Akram and his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.
The 50-year-old father died at the scene, pushing the death toll to 16, while his 24-year-old son fights for life in critical condition at a hospital, Reuters reported. He was shot at by the police at the time of the attack. Sajid was a fruit vendor, and he died at the crime scene.
The duo had reportedly told their family that theu were going for a fishing trip to Jervis Bay, but went on to carry out the deadly attack at Bondi Beach.
40 others, including two officers were injured in the attack, and are undergoing treatment at hospitals. The victims ranged from 10 to 87 years old.
A joyful gathering in Australia’s Sydney turned into a one of the most deadliest gun rampage in nearly three decades as chaos erupted and hundreds fled the sun-soaked beach and spilled into surrounding streets to take cover as the father-son duo opened fire. Videos captured the men wielding what looked like a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun, their shots echoing amid the panic.
Around 1,000 people were present at the Hanukkah event at the small park off the Bondi beach when the shooting occurred.
In a stunning act of bravery, a bystander tackled and disarmed one of the armed attackers, earning instant hero status for saving several lives. Captured on video, the 43-year-old fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed took two bullets himself before surgery, according to Channel Seven citing a relative. By Monday morning, a crowdfunding page for him had surged past A$200,000 ($133,000).
Bondi resident Morgan Gabriel, 27, captured the terror’s aftermath. She was strolling toward a nearby cinema when blasts, mistaken at first for fireworks, sent runners flooding her street.
“I sheltered about six or seven. Two of them were actually my close friends, and the rest were just people that were on the street. But people, their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away,” she said.
“It’s a very sad time this morning… Normally, like on a Monday or any morning, it’s packed. People are swimming, surfing, running. So this is very, very quiet. And there’s definitely a solemn sort of vibe.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning and laid flowers near the scene of the attack. He called the attack a “dark moment for our nation,” and said security agencies were probing the motive behind the attack.
