Bondi beach (Sydney) terrorism shooting

James R

James R

Just this guy, you know?
Staff member
Yesterday, two gunmen carried out a terrorist attack on people celebrate Hannukah at the well-known tourist destination of Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. This took place in the afternoon, when there were hundreds of people at the beach and in the parks, restaurants and other locations nearby.

Fifteen people were shot and killed by the gunmen, including a 10-year-old girl. A further 42 people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.

A brave bystander managed to grab one shooter's rifle. One shooter was killed by police who responded to the shooting. The other shooter was taken into police custody. Last night I saw some reports that suggest that perhaps there was a third shooter, but those could just be due to the sequence of events not being very clear as of last night.

There is quite a lot of publically-shot and available footage of portions the events as they unfolded. Media has released video of the shooters (the shootings started when the shooters opened fire on the people below from a pedestrian bridge) and videos from two angles showing the bystander overpowering one of the shooters. I have seen one still photo of the shooters taken by a drone that was in the air at the time the shooting started; possibly there is drone video, but if that is the case I haven't seen it.

This afternoon, the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has said that the national cabinet and first ministers have agreed to further strengthen gun laws across the nation following this event. This includes renegotiating the National Firearms Agreement, which could include limiting the number of firearms to be held by an individual and restricting gun licences to Australian citizens.

I think that the two shooters have now been identified as a father and his son. I am not up to date on all available information there might be about these offenders.

It seems very likely that the motivation of the shooters was most likely anti-semitic and/or anti-zionist. Either (or both) ways, this was an unprovoked attack on innocent people who were enjoying a sunny afternoon celebration.

A reliable source of local information on the shootings is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia's ABC):
www.abc.net.au

ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Follow the latest headlines from ABC News, Australia's most trusted media source, with live events, audio and on-demand video from the national broadcaster.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
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I should add that the reaction of the vast majority of Australians to this event has been to rally around the victims of the attack and to unequivocally condemn the despicable actions of the gunmen.

It is notable that Australian Muslim organisations and leaders were among the first to condemn the shooters and the offer their sympathy to the victims and the apparent main targets of the attack - the Jewish people who were gathering at Bondi.

Various international leaders have also reacted to these events, mostly to condemn the attack and to offer their sympathies. The President of Israel decided to play politics, assigning part of the blame on the Australian government for allegedly not doing enough to prevent such an event from occurring.

I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of Australians are revolted by intentional violence of this kind and believe that this sort of thing has no place in Australia.
 
Wizard of Whatever said:
Once again you reveal yourself as a word twister,
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No, Billvon has a point.

It's your suggestion that's twisted:
Wizard of Whatever said:
Find out who they are, where their bases of support are, and kill them all, or these things will continue.
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All you have to do is ask what exactly do you mean by "they" and "them"?

What do you think they will look like if you find them? What will you look for? Ask them to turn out their wallets, looking for "mass murderer" business cards? For all you know, these two are loners.

And, to Bill's point, what if they turn out fall into exactly your demographic? Do we round up "all" people like you in some way and kill them all?


Your suggestion is naive.
 
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The two shooters were father Sajid Akram (50 years old) and son, Naveed Akram (24 years old).

Turns out that the son was investigated by the Australian Security and Intelligence Agency (roughly the equivalent of Britain's MI6 or the US CIA) back in 2019 because of he was association with a firebrand pro-Islamist and rabidly antisemitic preacher who leads a mosque in Sydney. He, in turn, has a number of connections to either Al Qaeda (remember them?) or Islamic State (remember them?) and some home-grown would-be terrorists who were arrested a few years ago, although he has never himself been charged with anything.

When Naveed Akram was investigated, he was younger (obviously), and ASIO concluded that, at the time, he was not involved in the planning of any terrorist activities and was not considered to be a threat.

His father had a basic legal gun licence, ostensibly for hunting. This licence, obtained for "recreational" usage, entitled him to an uncapped quantity of certain kinds of rifles and shotguns. Footage from the attack shows Akram and his son kitted out with at least a shotgun, two precision bolt-action rifles, and ammo belts. NSW Police is still investigating whether the six guns found at the scene were all registered to Akram. A basic licence was sufficient for Akram to own the rifles because they were not self-loading.

It seems that law enforcement didn't make the connection between this guy owning guns and his would-be-radical son (who lived in the same house).

In the past year, father and son apparently visited Thailand, where they undertook some paramilitary-style training in firearms and the like.

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Meanwhile, the 43-year-old man, Ahmed al Ahmed, who was filmed charging Sajid Akram from behind and disarming him on Sunday, in video that has been viewed tens of millions of times on social media by now, was shot four to five times in his shoulder during the heroic intercept. Mr Ahmed was later admitted to hospital for multiple rounds of surgery.

The Australian Prime Minister said "He is a true Australian hero. He's very humble. He went through his thought process as he saw the atrocities unfold," Mr Albanese said. "He decided to take action and his bravery is an inspiration for all Australians."

Mr Ahmed migrated to Australia in 2006 from Syria. He is a Muslim man who runs a Tobacco shop. He has two daughters.

A fundraiser set up on behalf of Mr Ahmed has topped more than A$1.8 million in the days following the attack.
 
Seattle said:
Too many guns.
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This is not a gun issue, the Jews who were killed in Manchester were stabbed.
Let us thank our lucky stars, that we do not have access to guns or laws relating to guns like the US has.
Australia had done ok on that front since Port Arthur 1996.
 
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