A FATHER and son opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in a shooting spree that killed 15 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 15 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 Pavilion.
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-barreled 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.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel said his brother-in-law was among the dead.
“It’s unbelievable that this has happened here in Australia, but we need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want.”
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 brave few dashed towards the beach as the shooting unfolded, wading through fleeing crowds to rescue children, treat the injured, and confront the gunmen.
Footage showed a man — identified by local media as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired.
The 43-year-old wrestles the gun out of the attacker’s hand before pointing the weapon at the assailant, who backs away.
A team of off-duty lifeguards sprinted across the sand to drag children to safety.