Eleven people died afterwards Gunmen targeted participants at a Jewish community event on Sunday in Bondi Beach, Australia. According to police, another 29 people were taken to hospital with injuries, including a child and two officers. A suspected shooter was also killed. He was identified as Naveed Akram, 24, a Pakistani citizen residing in Sydney, according to a U.S. intelligence briefing and a driver’s license provided by Australian police.
Australian officials and international leaders have condemned it as an anti-Semitic terrorist attack.
Police said they expected the death toll to rise. Here’s what we know so far.
There were shots fired at a Hanukkah celebration
The attack occurred during a Jewish holiday celebration marking the first day of Hanukkah. More than 1,000 people were on a beach in a Sydney suburb when shots were fired, said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, who officially declared the shooting a “terrorist incident.”
Numerous Australian officials described the shooting as targeted. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said it was “designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community”.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah – which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith – an act of evil anti-Semitism, terrorism that has struck at the heart of our nation,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference.
Video footage shot by civilians showed frightened crowds of beachgoers fleeing the area as gunfire rang out in the background.
Neither officials nor police have identified the victims of the attack. Chabad, a global organization representing a branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, said Rabbi Eli Schnurr was among the dead along with Chabad of Bondi, the Associated Press reported. According to the organization, Schnurer was one of the main organizers of the Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach.
At least two suspects
Australian authorities said at least two gunmen were suspected of carrying out the deadly mass shooting, a rare occurrence in a country where gun violence is uncommon.
Lanyon said the deceased suspect was previously known to New South Wales Police. In addition to the gunman killed at the scene of the attack, another was hospitalized with serious injuries, he said. The surviving shooter was taken into custody. The commissioner also said officers were investigating whether a “third perpetrator” was involved.
A man has been hailed as a hero and praised by the police commissioner for tackling a suspect and disarming him. Dramatic video footage captured a passerby walking along Campbell Parade, a main street surrounding Bondi Beach. The footage showed the man hiding behind a parked car before wrestling with the suspect and taking his gun.
Officials found explosive devices
Shortly after the shooting, officers who responded to the scene spotted a vehicle along Campbell Parade and believed there were several improvised explosive devices inside, Lanyon said. According to the police commissioner, the vehicle has been linked to the deceased shooter. A bomb disposal rescue team was on site.
Rising anti-Semitism in Australia
Although mass shootings are rare in Australia, following the introduction of strict gun reform laws following a deadly massacre in Tasmania’s Port Arthur in 1996 anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise in the country since the war in Gaza began in 2023.
The Australian government appointed special envoys in 2024 to address rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in its communities. But there were still attacks this year. One of these in July involved an arsonist who set fire to the door of a Melbourne synagogue while worshipers were inside.
