Australian police say father-son duo allegedly behind Sydney mass shooting

SYDNEY — Two gunmen who attacked a Jewish celebration in Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15 people were a father and son, police said on Monday, as Australia mourned victims of its ‌worst gun violence in almost 30 years.

The father, Sajid Akram, 50, was killed at the scene while his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram was in critical condition in the hospital, police said at a press conference on Monday. Officials have described the shooting on Sunday as a targeted antisemitic attack.

Witnesses said the attack at the famed ⁠beach, which was packed on a hot evening, lasted about 10 minutes, sending hundreds of ‍people scattering along the sand and into nearby streets and parks. Police said around 1,000 people ‍had attended the Hanukkah event.

Police have not said what weapons ⁠were involved in the attack, but video from the scene showed the men firing what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.

Forty ‍people remain in hospital following the attack, including two police officers who are in a serious but stable condition, police ⁠said. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.

Authorities said they were confident only two attackers were involved in the incident after previously saying they were checking whether a third offender was involved.

Police ​investigations are ongoing and police numbers have been increased in Jewish communities.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who visited the scene on Monday, called the attack a "dark moment for our nation," and said police and security agencies were thoroughly checking the motive behind the attack.

"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 reached out and he thanked them for 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, paying respects for the victims of attacks at Bondi and another shooting at Rhode Island's Brown University.

Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed in Sunday’s attack, said it had been a harrowing evening.

“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.

Local woman Danielle, who declined to give her surname, was at the beach when the shooting occurred and raced to collect her daughter who was attending a bar mitzvah at a function centre near where the alleged shooters 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."

Sunday's shootings ‍were the most serious of a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza in ‌October 2023.

Australia's Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about ‍150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, including Bondi.

Bystander who disarmed gunman praised

Meanwhile, a bystander captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack has been hailed as a hero whose actions saved lives.

Footage circulating on social media shows a man, named by local media as 43-year-old fruit shop owner ⁠Ahmed al Ahmed, in a car park wearing a ‍white shirt charging at a man in a dark ‍shirt who is ‍holding a rifle.

He then tackles the armed man from behind, wrenching ⁠the rifle from him with his hands before pointing the gun back at the man.

The video then shows ​the man in a dark shirt backing away towards a bridge where another shooter is positioned, while the bystander places the gun down on the ground.

Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales state, hailed the bystander as "a genuine hero" ⁠and said the video was "the most unbelievable scene I've ever seen".

"There are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery," Minns added.

The bystander's identity could ​not immediately be confirmed by Reuters. Local media outlet Seven News identified him and said he had been hospitalised after sustaining two ⁠gunshot wounds.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the actions of Australians who had "run towards danger in order to help others".

"These Australians are heroes and their bravery has saved lives," he ‍told a press conference.

Others took to social media to express their ‌admiration.

"Most people run from danger ‌but this man, present at the ‍Bondi Beach massacre that just took place, was not one of those people," one person ‌said on the X platform.

"This Australian man saved ‍countless lives by stripping the gun off one of the terrorists at Bondi beach. HERO," said another.

© Thomson Reuters 2025.