The first alarms
The first calls came in around 6:45 p.m. local time (8:45 a.m. Swedish time). People calling the alarm reported gunfire on the popular tourist beach Bondi Beach. Police are urging people to stay away from the area and seek shelter.
Social media is quickly flooded with footage of the shooting and people fleeing the beach in panic. Initially, however, it is very unclear what happened. Police are urging the public not to spread unverified information.
Disarms perpetrator
One of the most widely shared clips on social media shows a man sneaking up on a shooter from behind and disarming him. After a seven-second struggle, the man manages to wrest the gun from the hands of the alleged perpetrator, who falls to the ground.
Investigated as a terrorist crime
Shortly after 11 a.m. Swedish time, the police confirm that a suspected perpetrator is dead.
About an hour later, police, along with state Premier Chris Minns, hold a press conference where they say the incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack. A family festival with over a thousand people was taking place on the beach on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented on the attack. “This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy,” he said.
Dead and injured
14 people were killed at the scene, police said. A 10-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man died of their injuries in hospital. As of 1pm on Monday, local time, 27 people were still being treated in hospital. Of those, six people, including two police officers, have life-threatening injuries and six others are in serious but stable condition. The age range of the victims is between 10 and 87, according to police.
Two explosive devices were found in a car near the beach. They were handled by the bomb squad and turned out to be live devices. A third explosive device was found in Bondi on Monday.
The perpetrators – father and son
The perpetrators, aged 50 and 24 respectively, are father and son. The 50-year-old was shot dead by police while the younger man is being treated under police guard in hospital with serious injuries.
The elderly man has had a weapons license since 2015. Six weapons were found in Bondi after the crime, and the police will now investigate whether these are the ones he had a license for.
IS flags
The suspected perpetrators had two IS flags in the car, according to information provided to the public service channel ABC News. However, there is no evidence that either of them were part of a terror cell. The 24-year-old was already investigated six years ago for his ties to a Sydney-based IS cell, but was not considered an urgent threat at the time.
It is likely that the younger perpetrator will be able to be brought to justice, said Mal Lanyon, police chief in the state of New South Wales.
No Swedes
There was no information on Sunday evening about any Swedes affected, the Swedish Foreign Ministry told TT. Among the dead is a rabbi born in Britain, according to the BBC, and a French citizen, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. According to Israel's Foreign Ministry, one of the dead is an Israeli citizen.
