Gunmen kill at least 11 in attack on Australia

At least 11 people were shot dead in an attack on a Jewish gathering on Sunday, the first day of Hanukkah, on Australia’s Bondi Beach, according to Australian government and police officials.

One of the two gunmen identified in the shooting also died, and the second was hospitalized “in serious condition,” police said. The surviving gunman was detained. Another 29 people were taken to hospitals with injuries, including two officers and a child.

The shooting took place at a celebration called Hanukkah by the Sea, held to mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday observed from sundown Sunday until Monday, December 22. More than 1,000 people were on the beach when gunfire erupted, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said at a news conference. Lanyon called the attack a “terrorist incident” and said the perpetrators used “long guns,” referring to long weapons such as shotguns or rifles, to carry it out. New South Wales is the Australian state where Bondi Beach is located, in a suburb of Sydney.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also characterized the attack as targeted, with Minns saying it “was designed to attack Sydney’s Jewish community.” The Prime Minister said it was “a targeted attack on Australian Jews.”

“This afternoon there was a devastating terrorist incident in Bondi and at the Hanukkah by the Sea celebration,” Albanese said at a news conference he called after the shooting. “This is a targeted attack on Australian Jews on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith, an act of evil anti-Semitism, terrorism, that has struck at the heart of our nation.”

Lanyon said police believed there were several improvised explosive devices inside a vehicle on Campbell Parade, a main street parallel to Bondi Beach, which they discovered shortly after the shooting occurred. A rescue bomb disposal team was at the scene.

Police were not releasing more information about the gunmen involved in the shooting, according to Lanyon, although he said at Sunday’s briefing that officers were investigating whether a third gunman was involved.

International leaders have publicly condemned the attack.

“The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia against a Jewish celebration,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a social media post. “Anti-Semitism has no place in this world. Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community and the people of Australia.”

Rubio’s statement echoed others from officials in Israel, New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom and several European countries who similarly spoke out to denounce anti-Semitism and share their condolences after the shooting.

King Charles also addressed the shooting in a statement, in which the monarch said he and Queen Camilla were “horrified and saddened by the most terrible anti-Semitic terrorist attack against Jewish people” attending the Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach.

“In times of grief, Australians always come together in unity and resolve,” he said in the statement, adding that Australia’s “spirit of community and love… will always triumph over the darkness of such evil.”

Armed man is disarmed by passerby, video shows

Images and videos have emerged from the scene of the attack, showing the injured being carried on stretchers by first responders.

“The scenes in Bondi are shocking and distressing,” Albanese said in a statement. “My thoughts are with every person affected.”

One video appeared to show someone struggling with one of the alleged gunmen and taking his gun, according to Minns, who paid tribute to that individual in some of his comments Sunday.

The video was recorded by a passerby on Campbell Parade, a main street that runs parallel to Bondi Beach. In it, a man jumped from a crouched position behind a parked car and knocked down the suspect, who had just fired his gun at something out of sight.

After a brief struggle, the man disarmed the suspect, pushed him to the ground and pointed the gun at him, at which point the suspect got up and walked in the opposite direction. The man then lowered the gun and raised his free hand in the air. To one side, a person appeared to be unconscious on the sidewalk next to another vehicle.

In additional footage, which was also filmed by bystanders, crowds could be seen fleeing Bondi Beach as gunshots could be heard in the background.

rare shooting

Mass shootings in Australia are rare. But researchers have recorded dramatic increases in anti-Semitic incidents In the country since October 7, 2023, the attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, along with spikes in hate incidents against Muslim groups.

In response, the Australian government last year appointed special envoys to address anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in its communities. However, attacks have continued to occur since then. In July, an arsonist set fire to the door of a synagogue in Melbourne, another major Australian city, seven months after criminals burned down another synagogue in the same city in a fire that injured a worshiper.