‘Chunks of something human’: What survivors described Bondi Beach bloodbath as
Survivors of Bondi Beach mass shooting narrated how the evening that was supposed to be filled with joy and celebrations turned into horror.
Celebrations turned tragic at Sydney's Bondi Beach when two gunmen opened fire at the crowd which had gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, a Jewish festival. At least 16 people, including one gunman, were killed in the shootout that reportedly lasted for at least10 minutes.
Track updates on Bondi Beach shooting
The attackers opened fire shortly after 6:45 pm local time, when more than 1,000 people were attending a ‘Chanukah by the Sea’ event on a warm summer evening. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the victims were aged between 10 and 87. At least 40 people were left injured, Reuters reported.
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The attackers have been identified as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed. While Sajid died during confrontation with the police, Naveed is said to be critically injured, but stable.
Survivors spoke to several media outlets as they narrated the horror of the evening that was supposed to be filled with celebrations and festivities.
'Chunks of something human on floor'
Hussain Rifi, 18, told Reuters that he was with his friends in a shower block nearby when they heard the shots. “We were flexing in the mirror, taking videos, and then we hear it: bang, bang, bang,” Rifi was quoted as saying. Soon, he realised the noises were gunshots.
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Rifi and his friends took shelter near the shower for around 20 minutes till they felt the shooting had stopped. As he looked outside, he saw bodies on the ground.
“There were chunks of something human on the floor,” Rifi said. “It was dead people everywhere.”
Twenty-five-year-old Camilo Diaz from Chilli recounted the shooting and said it felt like ‘10 minutes of just bang, bang, bang.’ "It seemed like a powerful weapon," Diaz told AFP news agency.
AFP spoke to another witness who said he saw six dead or wounded people lying on the beach.
Who were the shooters in Bondi Beach?
According to reports, Naveed was examined for his alleged links to a a self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist in October 2019. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a Monday press conference that the security agency decided there had been "no indication of any ongoing threat".
The father-son duo were residing at a spartan Airbnb in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Campsie, according to the ABC, Australia's public broadcaster. But Naveed called his mother to tell her that he and his father, a 50-year-old shop owner, had gone for a weekend fishing trip on Australia’s eastern coast, the Reuters reported quoting.
The police said that Sajid and Naveed had by Sunday gathered six firearms owned by the father and multiple improvised explosive devices. The father was a registered firearms owner and belonged to a gun club, according to police.
Naveed's mother described him as a ‘good boy’. Naveed's mother, Verena, told the Sydney Morning Herald that her son had last contacted the family just hours before the mass shooting on Sunday.
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"He rings me up [on Sunday] and said, 'Mum, I just went for a swim. I went scuba diving. We're going ... to eat now, and we're going to stay home now because it's very hot'," she said, adding that he told her he was in Jervis Bay with his father. Naveed Akram’s mother insisted that she did not believe her son could be involved in violence or extremist activity.
The 24-year-old assailant is a Pakistani national, according to unnamed US intelligence officials cited by CBS. CBS News further said it reviewed his New South Wales driver's licence too.
