Gunmen who killed 15 in Sydney attack on Jewish festival were father and son

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The gunmen who killed 15 people in an attack on a Jewish community event in Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, which Australian authorities are treating as an act of terrorism, are a father and son.

New South Wales Police said another 40 people were taken to hospital, including two police officers.

New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park confirmed earlier that the death toll had risen to 16, including one of the shooters, and that four children were among those taken to hospital.

New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns said the attack was being treated as a terrorist attack, and that one of the attackers had been killed while another was in custody.

On Monday morning, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24. He added that the father was a registered gun holder and had six firearms registered to him.

The gunmen opened fire on the northern end of the beach, where a party was being held to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday of light.

Police reported that more than 1,000 people attended the event. The shooters took their positions on a bridge overlooking a park on the beach before they opened fire.

“This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah… What should have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in this community, with families and supporters, has been shattered by this horrific, vicious attack,” Means said.

“This cowardly act of horrific violence is shocking and distressing to see and represents some of our worst fears about terrorism in Sydney.”

Police said they found a car near the site of the attack that contained an explosive device. They did not rule out the possibility that a third person was involved.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Bondi scenes were “shocking and sad”.

“This is a targeted attack on Australian Jews on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy and celebration of faith,” Albanese told a news conference. “An evil, anti-Semitic and terrorist act that struck at the heart of our nation. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.”

Albanese pointed to a video of a man who appears to disarm one of the shooters before the other attacker shoots him. He said: “We saw Australians today running towards danger in order to help others. These Australians are heroes, and their courage has saved lives.”

One person, who spoke to the Financial Times on condition of anonymity, said she was planning to attend an event at Bondi Pavilion, adjacent to the site of the attack, when she heard gunshots from her car. “I thought: It can’t be fireworks because it’s still daytime. Then people started running,” she said, adding that two women, one of whom was pregnant, jumped into her car to escape.

She said thousands of people were on the beach. “It was a beautiful Sunday evening,” she said. “He was rude. It was in broad daylight.”

Another person who spoke to the Financial Times but refused to give his name said that a friend of hers was shot in the shoulder, and that the names of the victims were already circulating in the Jewish community.

Mike Burgess, head of Australia’s intelligence agency, said one of the shooters was known to his agency but not from an “immediate threat perspective.” He said he did not expect the country’s terrorism classification to change from the current “likely” level.

The Jewish community in Australia has previously been subjected to anti-Semitic attacks in recent years.

Israeli president Isaac Herzog said that Sunday’s attack targeted “the Jews who went to light the first candle for Hanukkah on Bondi Beach.”

“Our hearts go out to them,” he said. “The heart of the entire nation of Israel is missing a beat at this very moment, and we pray for the recovery of the wounded, we pray for them and we pray for those who lost their lives.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wrote to his Australian counterpart earlier this year warning him of anti-Semitism in Australia, and accused him of not doing enough to combat it.

Netanyahu said: “Your government did nothing to stop the spread of anti-Semitism in Australia. You did nothing to curb the cancer cells that were growing inside your country. You took no action. You allowed the disease to spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews that we witnessed today.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was “appalled” by the shooting, which he said was “the result of anti-Semitic rampage in the streets of Australia over the past two years.”

“The Australian government, which has received countless warning signals, must come to its senses!” He added.

Additional reporting by James Shooter in Jerusalem