Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday apologised to the country’s Jewish community following a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people.
“As Prime Minister, I feel the weight of responsibility for an atrocity that happened while I’m Prime Minister, and I’m sorry for what the Jewish community and our nation as a whole have experienced,” Albanese said.
He pledged that the government would work daily to protect Jewish Australians and uphold their fundamental rights “to be proud of who they are, to practise their faith, to educate their children and to engage in Australian society in the fullest way possible.”
Recall that a father and son are accused of opening fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more in one of the deadliest mass shootings in Australian history.
Police said they received the first reports of gunfire at about 6:47 p.m. (0747 GMT).
The suspects, Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, allegedly fired long-barrelled firearms into crowds gathered for the family-oriented Hanukkah celebration, which attracted about 1,000 people.
According to court documents released on Monday, police alleged that the pair “meticulously planned” the attack over several months. Investigators said this included firearms training, believed to have taken place in rural parts of New South Wales.
Police also alleged that the duo conducted a nighttime reconnaissance visit to Bondi Beach just days before the attack. Surveillance footage showed them walking along a footbridge from which they later launched the shooting.
Authorities said the suspects recorded a video denouncing “Zionists” and outlining their motivations for the killings.
The pair are believed to have rented a room in a shared house days before the attack. On the morning of the shooting, they were captured on camera loading “long and bulky items wrapped in blankets” into a car. Police alleged the items included three firearms, four homemade explosive devices and two Islamic State flags.
Hours later, the father and son drove to Bondi Beach and carried out the attack.
Among the victims were a 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor, and a married couple who were shot while attempting to stop the gunmen.
Funerals have been held for most of the victims, including young Matilda, described by family members as a “ray of sunshine”; 87-year-old retired mechanic and Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman; and Bondi residents Boris and Sofia Gurman, who confronted one of the attackers.
Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His son, Naveed Akram, an unemployed bricklayer, was wounded and taken to the hospital under police guard. He emerged from a coma three days later.
An Australian-born citizen, Naveed has been charged with terrorism offences, 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of grievous bodily harm with intent to murder, and displaying symbols of a prohibited terrorist organisation after two Islamic State flags were found in his vehicle.
He was transferred from the hospital to prison on Monday, where he will remain in custody pending his next court appearance.
Investigators also revealed that the suspects took a four-week trip to the southern Philippines, returning just weeks before the shooting. Staff at Davao City’s GV Hotel told AFP that the two men stayed in a small room for most of their 28-day stay, though it remains unclear what they were doing during the visit.
Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), investigated Naveed Akram in 2019 over concerns of possible radicalisation but concluded at the time that he did not pose a threat.
ASIO also interviewed his father during that review. Despite this, Sajid Akram later obtained a gun licence permitting him to own six rifles, three of which were recovered at the scene of the attack.
AFP
