Australian police charge alleged Bondi Beach gunman with 59 crimes, including terrorism

Police in Australia said on Wednesday they have charged a man with 59 crimes, including a terrorism charge, after allegedly opening fire at a Jewish event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Naved Akram, 25, is one of two men suspected of carrying out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades. He was shot by police during the Bondi Beach massacre and remains in a Sydney hospital under heavy police guard.

The alleged father-son perpetrators opened fire at the Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach on December 14, an attack that shocked the country and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism and violent extremism.

According to interviews, officials and media reports, the 15 victims included everyone, from a rabbi and a father of five to a Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan.

The New South Wales Police reported that two police officers were still in a serious but stable condition at the hospital.

Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son, named in local media as Naved, also emerged from a coma on Wednesday after being shot by police.

The men accused of carrying out Sunday’s attack had visited the southern Philippines, a region long plagued by insurgency, weeks before the shootings, with Australian police saying they appeared to be inspired by Daesh, also known as IS.

Significantly, after several days of uncertain reports regarding the identity of the alleged gunman, who is now dead, Indian government officials on Tuesday confirmed that Sajid was a resident of Hyderabad, India.

Indian officials shared Sajid’s details after conducting background verification.

According to details, Sajid was a resident of Tolichowki, Hyderabad, who had moved to Australia on a student visa in 1998 and had returned to India only “two-three times” since relocating. He last visited India in 2022.

Meanwhile, the second attacker, his son Naved, was born in Australia in 2001 and holds Australian citizenship.

Man who underwent surgery hailed as a hero

Albanese said 43-year-old Ahmed al-Ahmad, the man who fought one of the shooters to disable his rifle and was wounded by the bullet, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Wednesday.

Mohammed al-Ahmad, al-Ahmad’s uncle in Syria, said his nephew left his hometown in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib to seek work in Australia about 20 years ago.

“We found out through social media. I called his father and he told me it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero; we are proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him,” the uncle told Reuters.

The family of Jack Hibbert, the 22-year-old police officer who was shot twice on Sunday and had been on the force for only four months, said in a statement Wednesday that he has lost the vision in one eye and faces a “long and challenging recovery”.

The family said, “Faced with a violent and tragic event, he responded with courage, common sense and selflessness, continuing to protect and help others even when injured, until he was physically no longer able to.”

Health officials said 22 people were still in several Sydney hospitals.

Holocaust survivors among victims

According to interviews, officials and media reports, other shooting victims included a Holocaust survivor, a husband and wife who approached the gunmen before they began firing, and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda.

Matilda’s father told the Bondi vigil on Tuesday night that he doesn’t want his daughter’s legacy to be forgotten.

Local media reported her as saying, “We came here from Ukraine… and I thought Matilda was the most Australian name ever. So just remember the name, remember that.”

In Bondi on Wednesday, swimmers gathered at Sydney’s most popular beach and observed a minute of silence.

“This week has obviously been very intense, and this morning, I definitely felt a sense of the community coming together, with everyone sitting together.”

“24-year-old Bondi man Archie Kalaf told Reuters. “Everyone is grieving; everyone is figuring it out and processing it in their own way.”