Massacre in Australia/ The perpetrators were father and son, the shootings terrorized Bond's plan for about 10 minutes

2025-12-14 22:38:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Massacre in Australia/ The perpetrators were father and son, the shootings

A father and son are reported to be the perpetrators of the massacre that took place this morning on Bondi Beach in Australia. The attack killed 16 people, while 40 others were injured. The Chief Constable of South Wales Police announced that they are not looking for any other suspects in connection with the tragic attack.

As previously reported, one of the perpetrators, the 50-year-old father, was killed by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son remains in hospital. The 50-year-old was licensed to use firearms and had six of them in his possession. It is believed that these six firearms were also used in the Bondi massacre.

Authorities have described the attack as "terrorist" and with clear "anti-Semitic" motives, one of the most serious ever recorded in Australia.

Witnesses said the shooting on the beach lasted about 10 minutes, as about 1,000 people had gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday.

Authorities said many more people would have been killed if it weren't for a bystander, identified by media as Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner, who was seen in a video rushing to grab the gun of one of the gunmen as he opened fire on unarmed civilians.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a meeting of the country's national security council and condemned the attack, saying the harm caused was beyond reason.

"This is a targeted attack against Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on all Australians ," he added.

Today's attack is the worst in a series of anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the start of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Australia's Jewish diaspora is small in population but deeply integrated into the wider community, with about 150,000 people identifying as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About a third of them are estimated to live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, including Bodmin.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the safest countries in the world. Sunday's attack was the worst since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist attraction in the southern state of Tasmania. /CNA