{"id":357108,"date":"2025-12-18T23:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357108\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T23:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T23:59:08","slug":"i-knew-i-had-to-come-here-emotional-scenes-as-footbridge-used-to-carry-out-bondi-terror-attack-reopens-bondi-beach-terror-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357108\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I knew I had to come here\u2019: emotional scenes as footbridge used to carry out Bondi terror attack reopens | Bondi beach terror attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the crime scene of Bondi\u2019s devastating mass shooting<\/a> was reopened to the public on Thursday morning, Noah felt no hesitation in what to do.<\/p>\n

The close friend of slain Rabbi Eli Schlanger<\/a> went straight to the footbridge where two alleged terrorists had fired on a Hanukah celebration at Archer Park on Sunday evening. Standing there, Noah sang a Jewish prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling very emotional,\u201d he told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Schlanger] was a fighter, not just when it was good, but when it was the darkest of times, and he was also a man of peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had to come here and fight. I\u2019m a religious singer, and I felt like standing on the top of the bridge and just singing a memorial prayer for him, blasting it out with my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mourners and those who gathered to leave tributes outside Bondi Pavilion<\/a> on Thursday morning quietly began to filter over the footbridge after the crime scene was lifted just after 11am, after the police operation ended.<\/p>\n

Some stood silently, staring out to the ocean, as others hugged after crossing into the park from Campbell Parade and sobbed beneath the trees.<\/p>\n

Police and members of the public are seen at the footbridge after the crime scene lifted on Thursday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n

Jay stood on the footbridge with her two friends, under the shade of an umbrella.<\/p>\n

She was visiting from Earlwood to pay respects to the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are in shock at this stage,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope the Jewish community feel the support they\u2019re getting from the public. I hope they feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before leaving, her friend took up a conversation with a Jewish community member who had been standing in reflective silence. \u201cYou\u2019re not alone,\u201d her friend told him. \u201cWe stand with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large menorah stood unlit near the playground, as police filtered through the area.<\/p>\n

Noah, who didn\u2019t wish for his surname to be used, said the Jewish community would return to the area on Sunday night to hold an event, one week after the terror attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchlanger brought people together,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what he would want us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Near the entrance, a New South Wales<\/a> police officer pointed to a tree, saying a colleague had sheltered behind it as the two gunmen fired on them on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He pointed to divots in the bark where two bullets had ricocheted, describing the officer who was there on Sunday as \u201cvery lucky\u201d.<\/p>\n

The park, usually a hive of activity and an entry point to Bondi beach, was solemn, as a memorial for the 15 victims of the attack<\/a> grew outside the nearby pavilion, drawing crowds of survivors and their fellow Australians throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Will Nemesh, the mayor of Waverley Council, home to Bondi, said the community had been \u201cin shock, has been in mourning and it has been in grief\u201d since the \u201cunspeakable acts of evil committed here\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some semblance of Bondi had returned to normal by Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the beach\u2019s surf lifesavers<\/a> hoisted the red and yellow flags for the first time since Sunday. Swimmers and beachgoers quickly took to the waves as a second memorial of flowers on the promenade grew, with the ocean in the distance.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t summer as usual at the packed tourist destination.<\/p>\n

Jill travelled down to Sydney<\/a> from the Central Coast to support the Jewish community with her friend, and had laid flowers at Bondi Pavilion before visiting the footbridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want them to know that they\u2019re loved, and our arms are wrapped around them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re crying with them too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrible what happened. Standing right here \u2026 it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the crime scene of Bondi\u2019s devastating mass shooting was reopened to the public on Thursday morning, Noah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-357108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357108","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=357108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}