As shots hit Bondi beach, Jessica desperately searched for her toddler before diving to protect another child | Bondi beach terror attack

Jessica Rozen ran desperately searching for her three-year-old son as gunshots rang out on Bondi beach on Sunday.

Rozen had attended the Hanukkah by the Sea event with his family when the terrorist attack began that evening, bringing a terrible end to the Jewish celebration of the light of day.

Her husband was running with his toddler when he noticed a little girl screaming. He lay on top of her until the gunfire stopped and the girl’s father arrived.

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In photos shared with Guardian Australia, Rozen lies on top of a little girl wearing a pink shirt and face paint with blood in her hair.

In another video, one of the alleged attackers aims from a footbridge at a group of elderly men, women and children hiding among white plastic chairs and desperately trying to prostrate themselves on the ground.

He said the little girl was not physically harmed, while Rozen had minor cuts and scrapes. He saw a woman nearby who had been shot in the head.

Her three-year-old child was on the playground with her grandmother, out of the main line of fire.

“He was laying on top of her,” Rozen said. “A group of men gathered all the children and women from the playground and marched them to the surf club. I don’t know who they were, but I’m beyond grateful.

“All that’s to say is that we are a community of peace and we were just eating donuts with our kids and celebrating the light. Nobody deserves this.”

Rozen’s actions are among the stories of heroism of ordinary people to emerge from Sunday’s terror attack on Bondi beach, where two gunmen killed at least 15 people. On Monday, 27 more people were injured and hospitalized.

In a widely shared video, a man identified as Ahmed al Ahmed tackles one of the shooters and wrestles the gun away from him.

On Monday afternoon, Anthony Albanese praised Ahmed’s bravery and said he grabbed the gun “at great risk to himself and as a result he suffered serious injuries and is currently undergoing surgery in hospital.”

The Prime Minister has previously said first responders “running towards danger” showed the “best of Australian character”.

“This is who we are, people who defend our values,” he said.

NSW ambulance commissioner Dominic Morgan praised the “astonishing heroism” of first responders, noting that some of the paramedics were from the Jewish community and “carried out their duties diligently and professionally”.

On Monday, Yossi Friedman, a local rabbi, visited Bondi beach to pray and mourn with other members of the Jewish community.

Wearing a kippa and tefillin, Friedman stood next to a police cordon near the Bondi beach park where gunmen opened fire.

Friedman paid tribute to his friend Eli Schlanger. Schlanger, a London-born rabbi, was the first named victim of Sunday’s shooting.

“He was just full of light,” Friedman said. “He was so positive, so obsessed with life and bringing joy to everyone.

“We don’t know what to do today. He has five children. The youngest is only a few months old.”

Friedman said his own nephews, who were also at the festival, ran across the street and took shelter in a stranger’s apartment for six hours.

“They had to leave, they had to run for their lives and escape to the other side of the road,” he said.

On her way to the beach this morning, she stopped to find her daughter’s shoes in nearby Dover Heights, which she had left behind when she ran away last night.

Some of the injured and dead were good friends of Friedman’s, and he was “still waiting” to find out if he knew more about the injured.

“People come here. Jews, ordinary Australians, they come here and they just hug each other and cry on each other’s shoulders,” he said.

“We’re just hurting and feeling these emotions. But like we always do, we’ll come together and come back stronger.”

With additional reporting by Adeshola Ore

Support in Australia is available at: Beyond Blue at 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 and grief line Call 1300 845 745. charity in the United Kingdom Mind You can be reached on 0300 123 3393. Other international helplines can be reached at: befrienders.org