At least 15 people are dead, and 27 remain hospitalized after a shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, an attack declared a terrorist incident and described as deliberately targeting Jewish Australians.
It’s the country’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years.
The victims ranged in age from 10 to 87. Among them: a Holocaust survivor and two rabbis. A bystander who wrestled a gun from one attacker — later described as “heroic” — survived and is now recovering in a hospital bed.
The suspects were a father and son.
Police identified the attackers as 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who moved to Australia in 1998 and was killed at the scene, and 24-year-old Naveed Akram, who was born in Australia and is now in custody.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said they were “driven” by extreme ideology, had been interviewed by security services in 2019, but “weren’t part of a wider cell.”
In the aftermath, Albanese announced plans to tighten Australia’s already strict gun laws further, moving to restrict who qualifies for a firearms license.
And then there is the man who stepped forward.
Ahmed al Ahmed, an Australian immigrant, wrestled a gun away from one of the shooters during the chaos. According to his migration lawyer, he says he would do it again.
“He doesn’t regret what he did. He said he’d do it again. But the pain has started to take a toll on him,” lawyer Sam Issa said after visiting him, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. “He’s not well at all. He’s riddled with bullets. Our hero is struggling at the moment.”
Al Ahmed is 44 years old. He is a Muslim father with two young daughters, ages five and six. He was critically wounded while stopping the attacker.
The outlet reported that he fled Syria in 2006 and became an Australian citizen in 2022.
Issa said the man never sought attention.
“Ahmed’s a humble man, he’s not interested in coverage, he just did what he was compelled to do as a human being on that day,” Issa said. “He gets that gratitude from being in Australia. This is his way of conveying his gratitude for staying in Australia, for being granted citizenship.”
There are moments when the worst of human cruelty and the best of human courage collide.
Bondi Beach was one of them.
