(Web Desk) – Australians are hailing a “hero” whose daring struggle with a gunman Sunday led to the disarming of an attacker during the country’s worst mass shooting in years.
He even earned a shout-out from US President Donald Trump, who said the man’s brave actions “saved a lot of lives” during a shocking assault on a Jewish gathering to celebrate Hanukkah.
Following the deadly shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in which 16 people were killed , footage emerged on social media of a man risking his own life by grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired on people who were out of view of the recording.
The man then wrestles the gun out of the attacker’s hand, before pointing the weapon at the assailant who backs away.
Local outlet 7News identified him as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit seller, and reported he had suffered two gunshot wounds.
The outlet spoke to a man called Mustapha who said he was his cousin. “He’s in hospital and we don’t know exactly what’s going on inside,” he said.
“We do hope he will be fine. He’s a hero 100 percent,” he said.
Witnesses tell of courage
A brave few dashed towards Australia’s Bondi Beach as a mass shooting unfolded on Sunday night, wading through fleeing crowds to rescue children, treat the injured and confront the gunmen.
Confronting tales of heroism and terror trickled out in the hours following Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in almost 30 years.
A team of off-duty lifeguards sprinted across the sand to drag children to safety.
“The team ran out under fire to try and clear children from the playground while the gunmen were firing,” said Steven Pearce from Surf Life Saving New South Wales. “They were able to get the children inside,” he told AFP.
“The other lifesavers went out and started trying to do CPR on the shot victims, and tried to drag as many inside as they could.”
Bleeding victims were carried across the beach atop surfboards turned into makeshift stretchers.
A pregnant woman went into labour after taking refuge in the surf club’s headquarters, Pearce said, and was later rushed to hospital.
“We have used every bandage in the surf clubs,” said Pearce. “Teams just ran out of everything.”
Fruit seller Ahmed Al Ahmed, 43, was lauded as the man who disarmed one of the attackers.
Footage showed a t-shirt clad man — later identified as Ahmed by local media — sneaking up on one of the gunmen.
He briefly tussles with the shooter before knocking him to the ground and wresting away the weapon.
“It’s been a very, very brave person, actually, who went and attacked frontally one of the shooters, and saved a lot of lives,” US President Donald Trump said of Ahmed.
Churches, bars and restaurants threw open their doors to shelter the panicked crowds sprinting away from the beach.
Frenchman Alban Baton, 23, hid for several hours with other customers in the cool room of a Bondi Beach grocery store. “It was very fast,” he told AFP.
“One girl said: ‘There is one guy with a gun’. And from this moment, everybody ran, and it was like survival instinct, so we all run in the cool room,” he said.
“Minute after minute, we were starting to realise what was happening.”
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur in 1996.
The so-called Port Arthur massacre led to sweeping reforms that would come to be lauded around the world as a gold standard for gun safety.
Gunmen were father and son
A father and son opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in a shooting spree that killed 16 people including a child, authorities said Monday as they denounced the attack as antisemitic “terrorism”.
The duo fired into crowds packing the beach for the start of Hanukkah on Sunday evening, sending people fleeing in panic across the tourist hotspot.
A 10-year-old girl was among the 16 dead in Australia’s worst mass shooting for almost 30 years, while 42 more were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.
Police are still unravelling what drove the shootings, although authorities have said the plot was clearly designed to sow terror among the nation’s Jews.
“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, before laying flowers at the Bondi Pavillion.
The gunmen targeted an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark the Jewish festival. They took aim from a raised boardwalk looking over the beach, which was packed with swimmers cooling off on a steamy summer evening.
Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach with bullets for 10 minutes before police shot and killed the 50-year-old father.
The 24-year-old son was arrested and remained under guard in hospital with serious injuries.
Wary of reprisals, police have so far dodged questions about the attackers’ religion or ideological motivations. “We want to get to the bottom of this. We want to understand the motives behind it,” New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon said on Monday.
Hours after the shooting, police found a homemade bomb in a car parked close to the beach. They said the “improvised explosive device” had likely been planted by the pair.
A grassy hill overlooking Bondi Beach was on Monday strewn with discarded items from people fleeing the killing, including a camping table and blankets.
People gathered flip flops, sneakers, and thermos flasks and lined them up in the sand for collection.
Australia mourned the dead by lowering flags to half-mast.
World leaders voiced horror and revulsion at Sunday’s mass shooting in which 11 people were killed at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
– Israel –
President Isaac Herzog condemned what he called a “very cruel attack on Jews” by “vile terrorists”.
In a speech in Jerusalem, he called on Australia to “fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism which is plaguing Australian society”.
– United States –
US President Donald Trump branded it “a purely antisemitic attack”.
“That was a terrible attack, 11 dead, 29 badly wounded. And that was an antisemitic attack, obviously,” Trump said during a Christmas celebration at the White House.
“Antisemitism has no place in this world,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said on X.
“Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia.”
– Britain –
King Charles III, head of the 56 countries of the Commonwealth, of which Australia is a member, said he was “appalled” by “most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “deeply distressing” and sent condolences to “everyone affected by the appalling attack”.
– United Nations –
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on X he was “horrified” by the “heinous deadly attack”.
“My heart is with the Jewish community worldwide on this first day of Hannukah, a festival celebrating the miracle of peace and light vanquishing darkness.”
– European Union –
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a post to X she was “shocked” by what she condemned as an “appalling act of violence”.
She added: “Europe stands with Australia and Jewish communities everywhere. We are united against violence, antisemitism and hatred.”
– Palestinian Authority –
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the shooting, saying it rejected “all forms of violence, terrorism and extremism, which contradict humanitarian values”.
In a statement it voiced its “full solidarity” with “friendly Australia”.
– Iran –
Israel’s arch-enemy Iran joined in the condemnations.
“Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.
– France, Italy, Germany –
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attack and vowed that France would “fight relentlessly against antisemitic hatred”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X she felt “profound grief” at the attack.
“By once again firmly condemning all forms of violence and anti-semitism, Italy expresses its own condolences for the victims,” she added.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a post on X: “I am deeply shocked by the terrorist attack in Sydney –- an act of hatred directed against all Jews worldwide on the first day of Hanukkah.”
– Canada –
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified by the antisemitic terror attack” in a post to X.
“Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred and intimidation,” he added.
