Australian police say the two gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish gathering on Sydney’s Bondi Beach yesterday were a father and son.
According to multiple media reports, 15 people were killed in the attack, which took place as people were celebrating the Hanukkah festival. The ages of those killed ranged from 10 to 87. Another 40 people remain in hospital.
Police killed the elder of the two gunmen, who was 50 and a licensed firearms holder, with half a dozen weapons registered to him. The second gunman, 24, is in hospital in a critical condition.
Two explosive devices were also found at the scene but have been removed and made safe.
A tight security cordon and heavy police presence remain at Bondi Beach – an iconic destination in Australia’s largest city that normally plays host to thousands of locals and tourists at this time of year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been to lay a bouquet at a growing floral memorial at the beach.
He earlier described the attack as “an act of antisemitism” and “an act of terrorism on our shores,” pledging to “dedicate every single resource that is required in responding to this.”
The Jewish Council of Australia called the attack a “horrific act of antisemitic violence” and said, “In moments like this, we hold each other close.”
The Australian National Imams Council, a leading Muslim organisation, has expressed its “solidarity with the Australian Jewish community, the victims, and their families, and with all those affected.”
