‘Where’s the Humanity?’ Bondi Attack Leaves Suspects’ Neighborhood Stunned

Bonnyrigg, a small, western suburb of Sydney, has fewer than 10,000 people, and dozens of cultures among them: There’s a mosque, four Buddhist temples and three churches all within a mile radius. More than 80 percent of households speak a language other than English. The neighborhood is among Australia’s most diverse.

So residents were stunned when a father and son from the community were reported to have opened fire on Sunday at a Hanukkah celebration 30 miles away on Bondi Beach, killing 15 people in Australia’s worst mass shooting in three decades, and vaulting the nation into the center of a global conversation about antisemitic violence.

“It’s shocking,” said Yücel Mirici, a Turkish immigrant who runs a kebab shop in Bonnyrigg Plaza, a mall in the center of town. “Where is the humanity? Where is the mercy?”

Mr. Mirici, who is Muslim, said his daughter was frozen silent after learning the news. Of the gunmen, he added, “They make the religion dirty.”

The authorities have said Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, 50, were motivated by Islamic State ideology. The elder Mr. Akram died in the attack. The son was shot by the police but survived and was charged on Wednesday with murder, terrorism and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.

In the days since the shooting, the international news media have rushed to sketch out the details of the suspects’ lives, but have been met here with a tense silence. At the suspects’ three-bedroom home on a leafy street, where they lived with their family, the only signs of life were muffled voices and footsteps inside. On Google Maps, a racial slur was added to the address description. The same slur was included on a note with a Christmas ham delivered to the house as an apparent religious insult.

About a mile and a half south, at a residence where the younger Mr. Akram is reported to have taken Quran lessons, the blinds were shut and no one answered the door — the tutor told Australian media that, fearing for the safety of his young family, they had vacated the house. Dozens of inquiries to community leaders, former co-workers, classmates and neighbors drew blanks.

The scant details that have emerged draw a portrait of a family that kept to itself. The older Mr. Akram, an Indian citizen, moved to Australia in 1998 in search of a job, according to the police in the southern Indian state of Telangana. They said he had traveled to India several times since then, with the last visit taking place in 2022, but had limited contact with his Indian family, whom they described as Muslim. In 2001, he married in Australia and had two children: a son, Naveed, and a daughter, the Telangana police said.

Those who knew the younger Mr. Akram described him as quiet, diligent and a devout Muslim. They said they were shocked to learn of the attack, not only because of their impressions of Mr. Akram, but because of his milieu.

At his high school, three miles east of the family home, students were invited to dress in their native countries’ traditional clothing, and many spoke little English, said a former classmate, Loris Trimarchi. He and another former classmate described Naveed as a shy student who was part of a prayer group and liked sports. A teacher at a jujitsu club, also in Sydney’s west, recalled him briefly training at the school, though Naveed left because he was more interested in pursuing boxing, the teacher said.

“He was quite the chipper kid. Always had a smile on his face, always laughing,” Mr. Trimarchi said. “Never showed any signs of concern.”

Mr. Trimarchi said that in their final year of high school, Mr. Akram became more vocal about religion and attended fewer classes. “He was open to discussing his views,” Mr. Trimarchi said, adding that those views had not come across to him as extremist.

The class graduated in 2019, though Mr. Trimarchi could not recall whether Mr. Akram graduated with them. After high school, Mr. Akram went quiet on social media and seemed to throw himself into boxing, Mr. Trimarchi said.

In mid-2019, Mr. Akram became an apprentice at a bricklaying company where he worked on a government housing project on the southwest outskirts of Sydney, said Geoff Olson, who also worked on the project.

Mr. Olson described Mr. Akram as a very quiet and good apprentice who was willing to learn and do whatever was asked of him, which included carrying bricks, mixing mud and building scaffolding. Mr. Akram’s co-workers called him “Nav,” Mr. Olson said.

At lunchtime, Mr. Akram would go to the park to pray, Mr. Olson said, recalling how he and the other bricklayers used to jokingly prod Mr. Akram to swear, but that he always refused. “He’d just be smiling, like a sheepish kid,” Mr. Olson said. “Put his head down. That was it.”

He said Mr. Akram had told him that his father had decided that his son would be a practicing Muslim, even though other members of the family in Australia were not. “He was a bit upset that he wouldn’t get any Christmas presents or birthday presents,” Mr. Olson said. He recalled little else of Mr. Akram’s relationship with his family, but added, “I just could sort of tell that he didn’t want to upset his dad.”

Around the end of the year, wildfires sparked across Australia, creating smoke so thick it made it difficult to work. “But he turned up every day,” Mr. Olson said. Mr. Akram came to the work Christmas party and to a co-worker’s birthday gathering, he added. “Everyone got along with him.”

Australian officials said that Mr. Akram had come to the authorities’ attention in 2019, but that it was determined he did not pose any immediate threat. His father was also interviewed at the time, officials said.

The Australian news media has reported, citing unnamed police sources, that the 2019 investigation was over Naveed’s links to Isaac El Matari, a self-proclaimed Islamic State commander based in Sydney who was convicted of plotting a terrorist attack. A request to prison officials to reach Mr. El Matari for comment was refused.

That year, Mr. Akram also became involved with the Street Dawah Movement, a Sydney-based volunteer group with to “peacefully spread the message of Islam” as its stated aim. An emailed statement from the group described Mr. Akram as “a keen visitor” at its faith awareness programs who also volunteered to help film a video, but said he was not an official member. In a since-deleted video on the group’s YouTube channel, Mr. Akram appeared to be standing in front of a suburban Sydney train station urging passers-by to spread the word of Islam.

The movements of Mr. Akram and his father over the past few years remain unclear, though the owner of a boxing gym in western Sydney recalled seeing the younger man about six months ago. The owner, who asked not to be named to protect the safety of his business and students, said that Mr. Akram had only taken occasional classes at the gym, but that he seemed distant — never engaging in conversation.

He and others across western Sydney said they were in disbelief over the attack, and the fact that the suspects had been moving among them, undetected.

“We don’t expect that sort of shooting to happen, and then, closer to home than we expected — like, someone local,” said Ronnie Nguyen, 44, who grew up in Sydney’s western suburbs and was at the Bonnyrigg Plaza on Thursday.

“I think it’s going to be traumatizing for most Australians. But I think over time, we’ll get on,” he added. “We’re multicultural. We’ll band together.”

During a Friday afternoon service at the Bonnyrigg Mosque, Imam Mücahit Çakır condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the Jewish community. “Islam is a religion that, since the time of our Prophet, has shown respect toward all religions and has created space for people to freely practice their beliefs,” he said. Imam Çakır added, “We see this act as an attack against every individual living in Australia.”

Others worried that a serious threat remained.

Steve Giles, 70, who was in costume as the Plaza’s Santa Claus, said he believed the wider population was at risk. “There are too many loops for people to develop the hate,” he said.

Pragati K.B. contributed reporting. Sheelagh McNeill and Alain Delaquérière contributed research.

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