{"id":349351,"date":"2025-12-15T10:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349351\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T10:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:38:12","slug":"anthony-minichiello-recounts-events-of-tragic-bondi-attack-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349351\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Minichiello recounts events of tragic Bondi attack – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Roosters<\/a> great Anthony Minichiello<\/a> has detailed the terrifying moments he feared for his life after a bullet struck his apartment building during Sunday’s tragic Bondi Beach attack.<\/p>\n

Minichiello, who has lived on Campbell Parade since 2003, was inside his Bondi apartment when gunfire erupted nearby, with one bullet hitting the building and another whizzing past his balcony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was watching from the window when a bullet hit our building,\u201d Minichiello said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was absolute madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 302-game Roosters champion said he initially struggled to comprehend what was unfolding, believing it may have been a confrontation between criminals before realising the seriousness of the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard gunshots and thought, \u2018What the hell is going on?’ Neighbours came out and then a bullet hit the building\u2026 Everyone on the balconies around us ducked down,\u201d he told the Daily Telegrpah.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen one bullet whizzed past, we heard the whistle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought, \u2018Get down, get out of the way, Jesus Christ, this is unbelievable.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Minichiello said the gunfire lasted around 10 minutes before residents were told to remain inside as the building went into lockdown.<\/p>\n

The Roosters legend had earlier been swimming at Bondi Beach on Sunday and had planned to return later in the afternoon, before deciding to stay home and watch a movie instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was down there at lunchtime for a swim\u2026 I was by myself and thought about going back later, but I stayed in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minichiello added that from his balcony he could see the nearby footbridge where shots were fired, but the noise made it difficult to pinpoint the source as people fled south along the beachfront.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see the footbridge from my place, but the gunshots were so loud I didn’t know where they were coming from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I saw was people running.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Roosters legend admitted he’s \u201cstill in shock\u201d following the tragedy.<\/p>\n

The incident took place on Sunday evening at Bondi Beach, which saw a Jewish community Chanukah event attacked and at least 15 innocent lives were lost.<\/p>\n

If you are feeling overwhelmed by today’s events, speaking to someone can make all the difference. If you or someone you know needs support, please call Lifeline anytime on 13 11 14, or text\u00a0 on 0477 13 11 14.
You can visit lifeline.org.au<\/a> for their online chat service or lifeline.org.au\/toolkit<\/a> for resources to help manage what you’re going through.<\/p>\n

13YARN: Speak to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter on 13 92 76.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney Roosters great Anthony Minichiello has detailed the terrifying moments he feared for his life after a bullet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-349351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}