The chilling boast of the alleged Bondi Beach massacre gunman that now makes my blood run cold – by the one man the stuttering, awkward loner called his friend

Bondi Beach terror suspect Naveed Akram’s eyes lit up when he talked about guns and even boasted that he was a better marksman than the Olympic sniper.

Akram, 24, along with his father Sajid, 50, allegedly opened fire at a Jewish holiday celebrating the first night of Hanukkah on December 14.

The men are accused of killing 15 people during the alleged terrorist attack, while dozens were hospitalized with life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Police claimed the couple were carrying four firearms and four home-made bombs and that Sajid, who was killed by officers during the attack, had a gun licence.

Last week the Daily Mail revealed Sydney tradesman Rishy had worked for a year with the alleged mass murderer on the construction site of the Crows Nest Metro station on Sydney’s north shore.

The Daily Mail can now reveal that Akram has openly boasted about his firearms skills for years and even challenged a former Olympian by claiming his skills were superior.

While co-workers chatted about families and weekend plans, Akram often sat quietly, folding his arms and saying little.

But Rishy says everything changes when the topic turns to guns.

Naveed Akram (pictured) was an introverted worker with no real friends or social life

The suspected Bondi Beach terror attacker is alleged to have been conducting firearms training at a location thought to be in the NSW Southern Highlands. This picture appears in a frame released by the court from a video allegedly found on his phone by the police.

“Nav had a really bad stutter, but no one was bothering him or laughing at him about it,” Rishy told the Daily Mail.

‘He didn’t scroll through his phone or anything; He just sat there and watched everyone eat and didn’t say a word unless someone spoke to him.

‘Every morning I would ask how his night or weekend was and it was always the same answer. ‘Good good good, www-I went to the gym’, same speech every day, always stuttering.’

But if the topic turned to firearms, he would suddenly come to life.

‘I already knew he had a gun licence,’ he said. ‘He told everyone and was really proud of it.

‘It was the only time you really saw any emotion from him, and when he talked about guns his eyes would light up and when he talked about them he would come alive.’

Rishy says he has no real interest in firearms, and their conversations never go into detail about how often Akram practices shooting, the types of weapons he owns, or where he goes for training.

But he remembers well the day a former Australian Olympian joined his team as a subcontractor.

Bricklayer Rishy was Akram’s supervisor at a contract at Crows Nest Metro Station

Akram was proud of his skill with arms

The cafe in North Sydney where the couple went for breakfast every morning

“The guy talked about competing, you could tell he was really proud of his medals and showed everyone a video of himself at the shooting range,” Rishy said.

‘Nav also watched the video and then said, “I can shoot better than that.”

‘Everyone actually laughed and it was probably the first time I’ve ever seen Nav smile but it wasn’t actually a smile, more of a grin.

‘I guess we really thought it was a joke; This guy was an Olympic medalist and Nav was grinning at that.’

Rishy says nothing prepared him for what happened at Bondi Beach.

“When I first saw the footage on social media, I thought this guy looked familiar, but I didn’t say anything right away because I didn’t quite believe it,” he added.

‘When his photo appeared in the news hours later I was so shocked I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

‘I couldn’t sleep.’

The next day, Rishy contacted his former co-workers to see if they had seen the news.

‘We talked about this,’ he said. ‘We’ve had conversations about it.’

Akrams allegedly placed Islamic State flags on windshields and rear windows

The couple allegedly threw homemade bombs into the crowd, including two pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb

Another bomb was in the trunk of the Akrams’ Hyundai car parked nearby.

Akram broke his quiet image on the construction site when he suddenly exploded at a co-worker over a religious comment.

‘One day while we were building scaffolding, one of the men said something about God,’ Rishy said.

‘I don’t know exactly what was said but Nav lost his temper.

‘He too took offense and snapped at the man, shouting that you should never talk like that about a god.

‘There was just an explosion and the devil appeared. Everyone was shocked.

‘The man didn’t actually speak at all, but as soon as he exploded he calmed down as if nothing had happened.’

The incident shook the crew, and when a contract was revealed in Newcastle requiring workers to spend the night in an Airbnb, some refused to share a room with him.

‘The boss asked the man he was arguing with, and he said no,’ he said.

Naveed Akram and his father Sajid were allegedly photographed during the Bondi massacre in a photo released by the court

Akram was known as the odd young worker on the construction site

‘The worker who shared the same thing with him said that when he got up to go to the toilet at night, Nav would always sit there upright and pray.

‘He couldn’t sleep and the guy got scared, he’d say, ‘Dude, it’s 2 in the morning, get some sleep,’ but he didn’t sleep.

‘It really hit the house like a bolt of lightning.’