On the evening of December 14, as the sun set over Sydney’s eastern suburbs and families gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, two gunmen opened fire on a crowd of more than 1,000 people at Bondi Beach. Within minutes, Australia’s most famous beach became the site of the country worst mass shooting in nearly three decades.
16 killed in Bondi Beach shooting
Sixteen people killed, including the youngest, a 10-year-old girl, and the oldest, an 87-year-old. Forty-two others injured, including two police officers. The attackers identified by police as Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24. They targeted the annual “Chanukah by the Sea” event organized by Chabad of Bondi, a celebration that attracts thousands of Australian Jews to the beach for years.
The shooting began around 6:45 p.m. local time. Eyewitnesses and verified footage show the two gunmen, dressed in black and armed with rifles. They take positions on a footbridge overlooking the beach playground in Archer Park, where the Hanukkah celebration was happening. From this vantage point, they started shooting at the crowd below.
10 minutes of shooting become nightmare
Camilo Diaz, a 25-year-old Chilean student at the scene, told that the attack lasted about 10 minutes. “It was shocking. It felt like 10 minutes of just Bondi Beach shooting,” he said. “It seemed like a powerful weapon.”
Amid the chaos, several people risked their lives to help others. The remarkable act came from Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner from Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, who happened to be at the beach that evening.
Widespread social media footage shows al Ahmed approaching one of the gunmen from behind while he shot into the crowd. He tackled the shooter, wrestled the rifle away from him, and pointed it back at the attacker. Ahmed then leaned the weapon against a tree and raised his hands to show the arriving police that he not a threat.
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