SYDNEY: An attack by a father and son during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach killed 15 people, plunging Australia into a day of mourning on Monday.
This is what we know:
Bondi shooting
Emergency services responded to reports of shots fired at 6:47 p.m. (07:47 GMT) on Sunday in Bondi Beach, one of the biggest tourist attractions in Australia’s largest city.
The shooting took place during an annual event celebrating Hanukkah, which police said was attended by about 1,000 people.
Damaged
Police say the attackers fired into the crowd, killing 15 people ranging in age from 10 to 87.
The youngest victim, a 10-year-old girl, later died at a children’s hospital, while 42 people were hospitalized overnight, five of them in critical condition.
Among them are two police officers wounded in a shootout with the gunmen.
Attackers
Police say one of the attackers was a 50-year-old father who was shot and killed in a shootout with officers.
The other was his 24-year-old son, who is in critical condition in the hospital, under police guard.
Australian media named them as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram.
In a statement, police said the pair used “long arms to shoot into a crowd of people.”
The father had a license to carry six weapons, which police say were used in the shooting.
Police do not believe any other people were involved.
Terrorism
The attack was declared a terrorist incident at 9:36 p.m. (10:36 GMT) by the Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns.
As a result, the federal police and the police launched a joint anti-terrorist operation.
Global convictions
The attack sparked condemnation around the world, led by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who described it as an act of “pure evil”.
US President Donald Trump called it a “purely anti-Semitic attack.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Australian government of “adding fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism” by not acting forcefully enough before the shooting.
