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Australian police said the suspects in the attack that killed at least 15 people in Sydney this Sunday (12/14) are the father and son.
According to New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, the investigation into the shooting “progressed” overnight. He said police were not looking for another shooter.
Lanyon says the two shooters involved are ages 50 and 24.
He confirmed that the 50-year-old man (father) died at the scene, while the 24-year-old man (son) remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Around forty people are hospitalized, including four children.
Prime Minister Chris Minns (head of local government) said the attack was “planned to target Sydney’s Jewish community”.
What should have been a “night of peace and joy” was “shattered” by a “horrific and evil attack”, he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was “an act of malignant anti-Semitism, of terrorism that struck at the heart of our nation,” he added.
Albanese further said there was no place for this “despicable act of violence and hatred.”
The attack happened in a busy area on the northern part of Bondi Beach.
A man was filmed fighting with one of the attackers, taking away his gun and forcing him to retreat. “This man is a true hero, and I am confident that many people are alive tonight because of his courage,” said Premier Minns.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said there would be a “significant investigation” by the counter-terrorism unit.
A witness who spoke to the BBC described fleeing with her children from a Hanukkah event, a Jewish holiday, which was being held on the beach when the attack began.
More than 1,000 people took part in a festival to mark the occasion on a Bondi lawn: children ran around in face paint, crowds milled around food trucks and many attended performances while soaking up the last rays of the sun.
The event took place in a grassy area behind the beach, near a walkway that people could use to get to the beach – and which the shooters apparently used as an observation point.
There was a metal barrier set up around the event, and people had to enter and exit through a gate with what appeared to be a bag search, but security seemed minimal overall.
One attendee, who identified himself only as Barry, described seeing people around him being shot as hundreds of beachgoers began screaming and running through the park to escape the attack.
“It was chaos and mayhem,” he told the BBC.
“It was just an incredible scene… in this day and age, that families and children in Bondi could be completely massacred because they were Jewish,” Barry said.
Rabbi killed in Bondi attack
British-born Rabbi Eli Schlanger was killed in the Bondi attack, his family has confirmed.
At 41, he is the father of five children, one of whom was born in October.
Rabbi Zalman Lewis, his cousin, told BBC News that Schlanger was “lively, energetic, full of life and a very warm, outgoing person who loved helping people.”
Lewis told BBC News that people should “shed light” by carrying out charitable acts in his cousin’s name.
“I know how he would have reacted and it’s something he said recently,” he says.
“Every human being on Earth has a positive way to help make the world a better place, and we just have to keep spreading the light. The world is a positive place and we have to show that, and I know Eli would say that.”
He said Schlanger was born in north-west London and moved with his family to New York as a child, before marrying an Australian woman.
“He was incredibly lively. He was full of life, a very pleasant and warm person who really loved helping people and it was always a pleasure to talk with him.”
Deadliest attack since 1996
This attack became the deadliest in this country since that of Port Arthur.
In 1996, 35 people were killed and dozens injured when a lone gunman opened fire at a historic site in Tasmania.
The attack marked a turning point, prompting the government to introduce some of the strictest gun control measures in the world.
There was a gun buyback program and increased checks on gun owners, and attacks decreased dramatically.
Since then, there have been only a few mass shootings, mostly acts of domestic violence – not attacks in public places like today.
“I started running to save my life,” says a witness
A witness who was packing his belongings after a day at Bondi Beach when the shooting began told BBC News he initially thought the gunshots were fireworks.
“I never imagined that a shooting could happen in Bondi,” says Marcos Carvalho.
He adds that when people on the beach began to realize what was happening, “everyone started running.”
“I started running for my life,” he said, adding that he and a few others hid behind an ice cream truck.
After emergency services arrived and the shooting stopped, Carvalho said he tried to find a way home, but passed by the area where the incident occurred and saw “bodies lying on the ground.”
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