Australian police plan to charge suspect in Bondi massacre
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 7 hours ago
- 3 min read
By VICTORIA KIM, YAN ZHUANG, JIN YU YOUNG, LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA and ISABELLA KWAI
Australian police said Monday that they expected to bring criminal charges against the surviving gunman in a deadly shooting spree that targeted a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney.
Authorities said they had concluded that the attack Sunday at Bondi Beach, which they said was carried out by a father and son, was an act of terrorism. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that they had acted alone and that there was no evidence that they were part of a wider terror cell.
But officials declined to provide additional details, including the suspects’ ideology or exact motive.
At least 38 people remained hospitalized following the mass shooting. Hundreds of people had gathered at the beach, a famed half-mile crescent of sand, for a Hanukkah event. Children played as music and bubbles filled the air until the attackers emerged from a silver hatchback near a pedestrian bridge and opened fire. Gunshots ripped through the celebration.
Danny Ridley, a photographer who was documenting the gathering, said one attacker fired at him as he was hiding behind a parking meter, leaving him with a light gash on his left rib. “It was just carnage,” he said.
Investigators did not release the names of the suspects, but described them as a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son. The older man died after being shot by officers. The younger man sustained critical injuries and is in a coma, authorities said Monday.
Officials said the father was an immigrant who came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and stayed in the country for decades on different kinds of visas. It was unclear what country he was from. The son is an Australian-born citizen, officials said.
Albanese said the son had first come to the attention of police in 2019 because of his connections to two other people, whom he did not identify. Police also interviewed his father at the time. But Australia’s intelligence service had determined that there was no evidence that they had been radicalized, Albanese said.
Neither of them were known to have any history of previous criminal offenses, according to police.
Albanese said officials would move to strengthen Australian gun laws in the wake of the attack. Potential measures include limiting the number of firearms a person can own and only allowing Australian citizens to have gun licenses. Officials said the older suspect had a recreational hunting license as a member of a gun club that allowed him to possess a long arm weapon.
Two improvised explosive devices were found at the scene and disabled, investigators said.
Here’s what else to know:
— Bystander intervened: A bystander who tackled and disarmed one of the attackers was recovering in a hospital after being seriously injured. Australian officials named him as Ahmed el Ahmed. Chris Minns, the premier of the state of New South Wales, called him “a genuine hero,” and said he had “no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery.”
— The victims: Investigators have not released the names of the victims, but said their ages ranged from 10 to 87. Families, friends, and Chabad, the Jewish group that organized the event, began identifying several of the victims. Among them are a long-serving rabbi, a grandparent and survivor of the Holocaust, and a retired police officer. The youngest victim was a 10-year-old girl.
— How the attack unfolded: The Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach in Sydney is an annual tradition, when hundreds of people typically gather to enjoy a barbecue, music and other festivities to mark the Jewish holiday at one of Australia’s most famous destinations. But at around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, a hatchback pulled up nearby and two men started shooting, causing panic and carnage.