Police said on Monday that the two suspected gunmen behind a deadly attack at a Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach were a father and son, as Australia began mourning victims of the country’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years.
Authorities said the pair killed 15 people during the attack. The father, aged 50, was later killed at the scene, bringing the total number of deaths to 16, while his 24-year-old son remains in critical condition in hospital.
Officials have described Sunday’s shooting as a targeted antisemitic attack.
Police said 40 people are still receiving treatment in hospital, including two police officers listed in serious but stable condition. Victims ranged in age from 10 to 87.
Witnesses said the shooting at the popular beach, which was crowded on a hot evening, lasted around 10 minutes, triggering panic as hundreds of people fled across the sand and into nearby streets.
Authorities said about 1,000 people had gathered for the Hanukkah celebration, which was being held in a small park near the beachfront.
A bystander who was filmed tackling and disarming one of the attackers has been praised as a hero whose actions saved lives. Channel Seven identified him as Ahmed al Ahmed, citing a relative who said the 43-year-old fruit shop owner was shot twice and later underwent surgery.
An online fundraising page for the man had raised more than A$200,000 ($133,000) by Monday morning.
Police have not disclosed what weapons were used in the attack, but video footage from the scene appeared to show the gunmen firing a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.
Bondi resident Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been walking to a nearby cinema when she heard what she initially thought were fireworks before people began running up 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.”
World Leaders Condemn the Attack
Police said they were confident only two attackers were involved, after earlier investigating whether a third suspect may have played a role.
Authorities raided the alleged attackers’ home late on Sunday. The property in Bonnyrigg, about 36 km (22 miles) west of Sydney’s central business district, remained under heavy police guard on Monday, with several surrounding homes cordoned off.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Bondi Beach on Monday morning, laying flowers near the scene of the attack. Mourners, some wearing kippahs, were seen placing candles, flowers, and Israeli and Australian flags.
Albanese earlier described the shooting as a “dark moment for our nation,” and said police and security agencies were thoroughly examining the motive.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location,” Albanese told reporters.
“The Jewish community are hurting today. Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”
Albanese said several world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, had contacted him to express their solidarity.
“In Australia, there was a terrible attack … and that was an antisemitic attack obviously,” Trump said during a Christmas reception at the White House on Sunday, where he also paid tribute to victims of the Bondi shooting and another attack at Brown University in Rhode Island.
Sunday’s attack was the most serious in a string of antisemitic incidents targeting synagogues, buildings and vehicles in Australia since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had previously warned Albanese that Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood could fuel antisemitism.
In August, Australia accused Iran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks and ordered Tehran’s ambassador to leave the country within a week.
Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world’s safest countries. Sunday’s attack was the deadliest since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in Tasmania.
Hundreds of police officers remained at Bondi Beach on Monday as locals, witnesses and officials visited a makeshift memorial near the beachfront pavilion, where flags were flying at half-mast.
“We were in the water and next second we see people laying on the floor, a kid was shot, it was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” said Trent Tur, an 18-year-old lifesaver.
“Honestly, it’s terrible. As a community we can move forward from this, it will be hard but the spirit, the Australian spirit in Bondi is very high and we can move forward.”
Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was among those killed, said the attack had been deeply traumatic.
“You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people but that’s not what this is about. It’s about a community,” he said.
“We need to step up at a time like this, be there for each other, and come together. And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it,” he added.
Danielle, a local woman who declined to give her surname, said she rushed to collect her daughter, who had been attending a bar mitzvah near where the alleged gunmen were positioned.
“I heard there was a shooting so I bolted there to get my daughter, I could hear gunshots, I saw bodies on the ground. We are used to being scared, we have felt this way since October 7.”
Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures, triggering Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Australia’s Jewish population numbers about 150,000 people within a population of 27 million, with roughly one-third living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Major cities including Berlin, London and New York increased security around Hanukkah events on Sunday following the attack at Bondi.
