A bystander is being hailed as a national “hero” after a shocking mass shooting at an iconic beach in Sydney, Australia, that was hosting a Jewish event.
Graphic scenes have emerged from Bondi Beach after at least 16 people were shot dead and 38 others were injured, local police confirmed. Among the casualties was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the assistant rabbi at the Chabad of Bondi, a Chabad official told the New York Times.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He added: “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”
The two shooters were a 50-year-old man who was fatally shot by police and a 24-year-old man who suffered “critical injuries,” police said.
Gunfire was heard on the popular beachfront around 6:47 p.m. local time Sunday, authorities said. Witnesses told the Daily Mail that they saw two men exit a vehicle close to the waterfront and begin firing dozens of rounds at beachgoers.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that more than 1,000 people were at the Hannukkah event at Archer Park on the northern end of the beach when the shooting took place. “As a result of the circumstances of the incident tonight, at 9:36 p.m. this evening, I declared this to be a terrorist incident,” Lanyon said.
Footage widely shared on social media shows a bystander tackling one of the gunmen, wrestling the weapon from his hands, and then turning it back on him, forcing the attacker to retreat.
“It’s the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said in a late-night press conference. “Walking to a gunman… and singlehandedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk... that man is a genuine hero and I’ve got no doubt there are many, many people alive due to his bravery."
The hero bystander was identified by relatives as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed. His cousin told 7News that the dad of two was shot twice and will undergo surgery.
“He’s in hospital and we don’t know exactly what’s going on inside,” said the cousin, identified by the outlet only as Mustafa.
“We do hope he will be fine. He’s a hero 100 percent.”
In separate footage, two men can be seen standing on a passenger bridge while firing multiple shots into the parkland that surrounds the beach.
“This cowardly act of terrifying violence is shocking and painful to see and represents some of our worst fears about terrorism in Sydney,” Minns added.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah, what should have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in that community with families and supporters, has been shattered by this horrifying, evil attack.”
Bondi is an area of the city with a large Jewish population, and Sunday marks the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
A “Chanukah by the Sea” event, planned for Sunday, began at 5 p.m. local time on the beach where community members were set to light the first candle on a giant Menorah, enjoy a petting farm, and receive free face painting.
“Join Chabad of Bondi for our Annual Chanukah Festival as We Celebrate Jewish Life by lighting up the Iconic Bondi Beach,” the event information page reads.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added at the press conference. “This is an act of evil antisemitism terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation.”
“Every Australian tonight will be like me, devastated over this attack on our way of life. There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear, we will eradicate it.”
Tension between community groups has been increasingly strained in Australia following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023.
Sydney has been the site of numerous pro-Palestine protests, including one demonstration in August that saw an estimated 90-300,000 people march across the famous Harbour Bridge.
“The events at Bondi Beach are an absolute atrocity. A horror for the victims and a massive escalation of the hatred directed at Australia’s Jewish community,” former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbot said on X.
“There should be no place in Australia for the kind of evil we’ve seen this evening,” he added. “Thank God one bystander heroically intervened showing the good side of our country.”
Bondi Beach is one of the world’s most iconic beaches and a central hub of Sydney life. With close proximity to the CBD, a vibrant community, and world-class surf, this waterfront neighbourhood is known for its luxury properties and upper-class living.
On Sunday evening, the beach was packed with holidaymakers and locals cooling off in the water from the 90-degree heat when the shooting began.
Video footage of the incident shows hundreds of people sprinting across the white sand for cover as shots ring out in the background.
Witnesses say dozens of shots were fired, while other imagery shows bullets and casings from high-powered rifle weaponry on the floor.
“For twenty minutes, they shoot, shoot. Change magazines and just shoot,” one Israeli eyewitness told a 7 News journalist who was on the scene.
“It’s terrible. In the middle of Bondi. It’s terrible.”
This community is no stranger to tragedy. The Bondi neighborhood was the subject of a mass stabbing incident in April of last year, with six people stabbed to death and 12 people injured at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre. That incident was not considered a terror attack.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia following the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in 1996 in which 35 people were shot dead and a further 23 wounded. In the immediate aftermath of that event, then Prime Minister John Howard implemented a mandatory firearm buyback scheme which saw 650,000 newly prohibited firearms removed from circulation in Australia.
