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Australia’s leaders have praised the “hero” bystander who tackled a gunman and disarmed him during the attack on a Jewish event on Bondi Beach, an action which they said saved lives.
Footage of the incident showed a man, later identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, springing on the gunman from behind a parked car. The attacker was hiding behind a palm tree and firing into the crowd at the Hanukkah celebration.
Ahmed wrestled the large weapon from the gunman’s hands as the attack was taking place and forced him to retreat by pointing the gun at him before raising his hands and putting it down against the tree.
The father of two suffered gunshot wounds to his shoulder and hand in the course of his intervention in the attack, an action that has been widely praised around the world.
Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales, highlighted the act on Sunday night prior to Ahmed’s identity being made public. “That man is a genuine hero and I’ve got no doubt there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery,” he said.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Ahmed was “a very, very brave person, actually, who went and attacked frontally, one of the shooters and saved a lot of lives”.
Ahmed was “right now in the hospital, pretty seriously wounded . . . great respect to that man”, Trump said.
Fifteen people were killed in the attack with a further 27 receiving hospital treatment, according to the health department. The gunman confronted by Ahmed died on the scene. The other shooter, the gunman’s son, is in custody.
Ahmed’s parents, speaking to local broadcaster ABC in Arabic outside the hospital where he is recuperating after surgery, said their son was a hero.
His father Mohamed Fateh Al Ahmed, who arrived in Australia from Syria two months ago, said his son had migrated to Australia in 2006, had taken citizenship and owned a fruit and produce store in Sydney.
He said his son had travelled to Bondi to have coffee with a friend when the gunmen opened fire.
“He has the impulse to protect people,” his father said. “I feel pride and honour because my son is a hero of Australia,” he told the ABC.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday said there was a stark contrast between Ahmed’s actions and those of the attackers.
“You have these two individuals who have engaged in a horrific act, one that is completely out of place with the way that Australia functions as a society. And it contrasts with the actions of police who rushed towards Bondi, the actions of Ahmed al Ahmed, who took the gun off that perpetrator at great risk to himself and suffered serious injury as a result of that, and is currently going through operations today in hospital,” Albanese said.
A fundraising campaign has been launched for Ahmed, and was promoted on social media site X by billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. The campaign had raised more than $970,000 of a target of $1.7mn, with Ackman contributing $99,999.
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