How Bondi’s Hanukkah festival turned from joy to horror within minutes

It was a night that promised to bring “joy and light” to Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach as large Jewish families gathered in a park to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights.

They were among thousands of swimmers, surfers and sunbathers who flocked to Australia’s most famous beach on a scorching summer afternoon.

But not long after the Hanukkah event began at 5 p.m. local time and the first free donuts were distributed, the festive music was drowned out by the echo of screams and gunshots.

It is not known exactly when the first shot was fired, but the first call to the police was made at 18:47. In the minutes that followed, two gunmen would kill at least 15 people and wound dozens more, authorities said.

Chavi, a local high school teacher, told the BBC she fell to the ground “with bullets flying overhead” to protect her baby.

“There was mayhem and chaos,” said another attendee, who identified himself as Barry. He said it as he described it. I was watching a group of people trying to escape from the scene, which suddenly turned into a nightmare.

In a video verified by the BBC, gunshots can be heard as people crouch and scream, while the joyful music of the Hanukkah event can still be heard in the background.

Eerily exuberant music continues to play as the camera pans over the grass, revealing exhausted bodies whose condition is uncertain, completely motionless.

Separate footage shows groups of people lying on top of each other on grass as a woman tries to cover a young child’s head with her hand.

Panic soon spread from the park to the sands, and videos showed terrified beachgoers quickly running away from the sound of gunfire.

In the chaotic minutes that follow, screams, car horns and ambulance sirens fill the air. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that some vehicles crashed as people desperately tried to escape.

A nearly 11-minute video verified by the BBC provides perhaps the clearest timeline of the attack; However, it is unclear exactly how long it took for recording to begin.

It all starts when two gunmen march across Campbell Parade (the long, cafe-lined road that winds around the beach) and toward the pedestrian bridge over the park where the Hannukah event is taking place.

From there, two men, Sajid Akram (50) and his son Naveed (24), allegedly used the elevated position to carry out the remainder of the attack. There are ‘two sporting shotguns’, an expert tells the BBC.

One man, believed to be Naveed Akram, remains on the bridge while the other proceeds towards the park on foot. In some of the images, gunshots continue to echo at one-second intervals, while people’s screams can also be heard.

When the old man, believed to be Sajid Akram, starts walking away from the bridge, he starts shooting at people.

Just a few minutes later, a passerby seen crouching behind parked cars catches Sajid off guard and within seconds he manages to wrestle the firearm away from him.

The gunman stumbles away and the murdered man Identified as Ahmed al AhmedHe points the firearm at himself before dropping the gun against a tree and raising his hands to signal to officers that he is not a suspect.

Ahmed, who was shot twice during the attack, was hailed as a hero and commended by New South Wales Premier Chris Minns for saving “countless lives” with his brave actions.

However, less than a minute after being disarmed, Sajid Akram returns to the bridge and continues shooting at people with another gun.

The shooting stops after about two minutes when it becomes clear that both men have been hit by police fire.

About seven and a half minutes into the clip, police arrive at the bridge, where they are confronted by an extremely tense scene: two men with gunshot wounds — the alleged gunmen — and a crowd of bystanders, some of whom appear to be kicking the men to the ground.

Police later confirmed that one of the gunmen, Sajid Akram, was found dead at the scene, while the other was seriously injured and taken to hospital.

Police said both men lived at a house in Bonnyrigg, a western Sydney suburb about an hour from Bondi Beach.

But days before the attack, they decided to rent a short-term rental in Campsie, about 30 minutes closer to the beach, according to media reports.

Their family home in Bonnyrigg became one of the main focuses of the police investigation. Police conducted a raid on Sunday night.

In the footage of the raid, three people can be seen coming out with their hands up and heavily armed police in tactical gear surrounding the area.

These people were arrested, but were later released without charge.

It is not yet known whether the weapons used in the attack belonged to the two men, but Sajid Akram had six registered firearms and a recreational weapons licence.

His son Naveed was examined for his close ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State (IS) cell after authorities became aware of his activities in 2019, ABC reported.

However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was “an assessment that there is no indication that the threat or threat of violence continues.”

Residents of the normally quiet suburban street have described how the turmoil of the last 48 hours has disturbed the neighbourhood.

Lemanatua Fatu, who lives opposite the men, told the BBC: “My daughter was shouting at me ‘mom, look out’ and I saw a lot of police, a lot of cars, sirens and loudspeakers urging them to come out.”

“Then I saw the news. I thought, Oh my God, it couldn’t be them.”

Additional reporting by Gabriela Pomeroy and Thomas Spencer