William Morgan
The brave actions of a local shop worker in thwarting one of the alleged gunmen at Bondi Beach have seen him hailed as a hero, as many are still coming to terms with the horror that unfolded during the local Jewish community's Hanukkah celebrations.
Syrian-born Australian citizen Ahmed al Ahmed had been out grabbing a coffee with his cousin when gunshots rang out in the seaside Sydney suburb, just before 7pm on Sunday (December 14), signaling the start of the attack which claimed at least 15 lives and left dozens injured.
Footage from the heartbreaking incident shows the 43-year-old father hiding behind a car while one of the suspected gunmen shoots at people who had gathered to mark the start of the Jewish holy festival.
Comments he made in the seconds before he charged have since emerged, with cousin Jozay Alkanj telling the Sydney Morning Herald about and how hero Ahmed 'couldn’t bear to see people dying' and sprung into action.
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Speaking outside of the hospital where his cousin was still retrieving treatment, Alkanj said that Ahmed knew he had to act and turned to him to say: "I'm going to die, please see my family and tell them that I went down to save people's lives."
The cousin added: "It was very crazy, we went behind the cars, we were seeing that people were shooting very near to us."
Following these brave words, the father-of-two snuck behind the vehicles on Campbell Parade and waited for one of the gunmen to reload. Video of his actions show him running down the attacker and disarming him, before turning the rifle on him.
While this disarmed gunman can then be seen trying to get away from Ahmed, the other attacker then shoots Ahmed multiple times.
Another of Ahmed's cousins who was also present, Mustafa al-Asaad, spoke to Arabic media after visiting his injured relative in the hospital, where he is understood to be undergoing multiple rounds of surgery.
The cousin said: "When he saw this scene, people dying of gunfire, he told me, ‘I couldn’t bear this. God gave me strength. I believe I’m going to stop this person killing people."
Al-Assad said that Ahmed said he had no regrets about intervening, speaking from his hospital bed in between surgeries. The brave bystander reportedly said 'God gave me courage'.
With Prime Minister Albanese and other world leader's praising their son's courage, the 43-year-old hero's parents have spoken of his bravery and how his background could have played a role.
Proud father Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed said: "My son is a hero. He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people.”
They also claim he could have been shot as many as six times.
His mother added: “He saw they were dying, and people were losing their lives, and when that guy [the shooter] ran out of ammo, he took it from him, but he was hit."
A fundraiser for Ahmed has raised 1.1 million Australian dollars ($744,000) in the day since the attack.