How the Bondi Beach shooting unfolded | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to find out more about a story. and why it matters. I'm Charlotte. Gallagher. On Sunday, 15 people were. killed at Bondai Beach in Sydney in an. attack the Australian Prime Minister. says was motivated by extremist. ideology. The shootings targeted Jewish. people attending a Hanukkah event. The. victims include a 10-year-old girl, a. British-born rabbi, a retired police. officer, and a Holocaust survivor. The.

two men named by the authorities as. responsible for the killings were Sajjid. Aram, who was 50, and his son Naveiv, who's 24. Let's speak now to our. correspondent, John Sudworth, who's been. following this story for us. And John, thanks so much for coming on. You've. been following this for a couple of. hours now. And there's been this vigil, hasn't there, in Sydney after this. shooting attack? There has been I mean. as um viewers listeners uh will know. Charlotte uh from the extraordinary.

footage uh coming out of Sydney uh there. has been a huge outpouring of shock and. grief uh in in that city. Bondai Beach. is of course iconic. Um it is in some. ways uh a symbol of all of the freedoms. that Australians love and enjoy. And so. there's a sense that this is uh not just. an attack on uh the families, the. worshippers, the Jewish community, but. um a wider sense of of what Australia is.

and what it stands for. >> And what have we learned from the. authorities about this? >> Well, um you've outlin outlined a little. bit of what we know. Um I can add some. more to that. I mean, again, a lot of. video online. Um some viewers may have. seen some of it um showing um in very. graphic detail some of it um the. duration of um this very violent event. uh these two men father and son on this. bridge um a short distance from Bondi.

Beach um targeting a gathering of Jewish. people celebrating Hanukkah um and uh. you know the authorities are telling us. very clearly. Um, and again, no surprise in any of. this for anybody who's seen the footage. that these this was an act motivated by. extremist ideology. Uh, we know a little. bit more about the two suspects. Um, Sajid Aram, 50 years old, um, who who um.

was shot dead at the scene, came to. Australia in 1998 on a student visa. He. had a firearms license for hunting. um. and his son Navidid an Australian-born. citizen uh now in hospital in a critical. condition. In terms of motive, of. course, the authorities at this stage. not saying much more than that broad. sense of of of what they think was. behind this and there will be a lot of. questions being asked as well. Of.

course, um about what may have been. known. Um two things I think to to to. add some detail on there in terms of. what the authorities have told us. Uh. first of all they've uh have made it. very clear that they say they had very. little prior knowledge of either of the. suspects ahead of this incident but uh. they have admitted that at some point uh. Navidid Aram had come to the attention. of the authorities and ABC Australia the. Australian national broadcaster have. suggested uh that at some point there.

was a suggestion uh that he had some. kind of link to Islamic State. Uh but. the Australian Prime Minister Anthony. Albani has said that he was deemed not. to be a threat. So uh um you know that. was either wrong at the time or. something has changed in the intervening. period and that will of course now be a. central focus of the investigation. >> and as we've said this was an attack. targeting Jewish people and some people. are asking about whether there is an. anti-semitism problem in Australia.

[snorts]. I I mean this would uh you know I think. it's hard to to watch an event like this. and and uh conclude otherwise. Uh the. figures suggest um as in many parts of. the world there has been a significant. uptick in anti-semitic incidents and uh. anti-semitic violence in particular um. targeting of synagogues um that kind of. thing. um as always uh definitions are. debated etc etc but I think um if you.

look at what the Australian government. is saying and the position it's taken it. has appointed an expert to look into. this because it sees this as such as. such a serious problem and already there. was a discussion underway about whether. more needed to be done for example to. combat um anti-semitic hate speech. online whether more regulation was. needed so I think that very much. suggests um that you know something. rings true when uh members of the Jewish. community in the aftermath of this. dreadful incident are saying that. although it is shocking uh they are also.

somewhat unsurprised that this has. happened. Let's talk now about the man. who stopped one of the gunmen, which is. 43-year-old Akmed Al Akmed. And we can. see the footage now. And John, that is incredible footage. when you watch it. The bravery of him, >> absolutely extraordinary. Um, you know, to see him unarmed, tackling um the.

gunman with his bare hands. um obviously. being widely praised for his bravery. He. has had um a visit in hospital from the. the uh premier of New South Wales, Chris. Mins. What do we know about him? He's a. fruit shop owner, as you say, 43 years. old. Uh the father of two young. daughters from a Syrian background. Um. and the BBC's recently spoken to his own. father who said that his son did not. hesitate. And I think in those actions.

um you know if it's not too much to to. to to express it this way I think many. Australians are seeing something of a. glimmer of of hope in in in his actions. and the uh the bravery shown uh in. attempting to disarm the gunman as he. did. >> Yeah. We saw the best in people and also. the worst in people. And you've been. looking at particularly at the moment. the delay I think in the police getting. to the scene. Well, there's certainly. the the the questions that are being. asked about that, Charlotte. Um there is.

one video um that almost captures the. entirety of the incident. It's 10. minutes and 42 seconds long. It's. focused on the bridge where the two. government spend much of their time. Um. and I think it does prompt a few. questions. Um just some 20 seconds into. the video with the two gunmen already um. unleashing these barrage of shots in the. direction of the the crowd, you see a. police car with its sirens on drive. right past. So I think questions will be. asked about uh whether anything could.

have been done earlier. um after you see. um Sajid Aram leave the bridge u and he. disappears for a few minutes um during. that time he's disarmed um in that. incident we've just been speaking about. but he's then able to return to the. bridge pick up another weapon and begin. firing again so I I think a lot of. questions uh will be asked about whether. more can be done and in fact in at at. one point in in that same video you can.

hear the bystanders around the person. holding the mobile phone filming all of. this saying where are the police now you. know the authorities have been asked. about this uh in press conference Chris. Mins the the new New South Wales premier. uh has said uh it's important um that we. don't jump to conclusions and making the. very important um point of course that. um in. in that uh attempt to bring this. incident to a close two police officers.

have been left in hospital in serious. but stable conditions and he suggests. that um the media ought to be very very. careful about jumping to conclusions. Nonetheless, I think uh in that. investigation the authorities themselves. will of course want to know if lessons. can be learned. >> and as well you know we don't really. associate Australia as a country with a. particular gun shooting problem. I mean, I know you were a correspondent in the. US for years where sadly shooting. attacks are quite common, but in. Australia already there's now a debate.

about tightening gun laws because, as we. said, the father in this situation who. carried out this attack, he had legal. firearms. >> He he was he was legitimately holding. six weapons and as you can see from uh. you know uh the video footage and that. dreadful uh toll of of death and injury. here, uh these were very serious. weapons. capable of of of causing uh. very serious injury and death. So uh I. think those questions will undoubtedly.

be asked about tightening up the gun. laws. Australian police are routinely. armed um. u similar to America, very different. from the United Kingdom. Uh that is. something that has sort of crept in over. the years um in in increments. Um and in fact as you see the police. officers finally arrive on the scene at. the bridge they have their firearms. their sidearms uh drawn. Um you know the. debate in America often focuses on that.

idea that uh by arming the police you. can bring incidents like this much more. quickly under control. That's the. argument that the you know you often. hear uh the gun lobby um uh make in. America. And I think again questions. will be asked uh about the best way to. protect uh not only the Jewish community. but um you know Australians in general. in terms of the debate as it goes. forward from this point. >> John, thank you so much for joining us. That was John Sedworth, our. correspondent who's been following this.

story. And you can hear more on this. story on the Global News podcast. wherever you get your podcast from. And. if you liked this, please subscribe to. us here on YouTube. And if there are any. stories you want us to cover, please say. so in the comments below.