{"id":206175,"date":"2025-12-29T05:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T05:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/206175\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T05:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T05:06:08","slug":"bondi-beach-shooting-hero-says-he-just-wanted-to-stop-the-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/206175\/","title":{"rendered":"Bondi Beach shooting hero says he just wanted to stop the killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahmed al Ahmed, hailed as a hero for tackling one of the gunmen<\/a> behind an antisemitic terror attack on Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach<\/a> earlier this month, says his only focus was saving lives.<\/p>\n

He has spoken publicly for the first time since the December 14 shooting, which left 15 people dead and over 40 injured<\/a>, telling US broadcaster CBS News he “didn\u2019t worry about anything” except stopping the violence.<\/p>\n

“My target was just to take the gun from him, and to stop him from killing a human being’s life and not killing innocent people,” the 43-year-old said.<\/p>\n

“I know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost.”<\/p>\n

The Syrian-Australian Muslim shop owner has been praised around the world after footage showed him confronting and disarming one of two attackers during a Hanukkah celebration at the popular beachfront area. <\/p>\n

Courageous\u00a0Ahmed Al Ahmed, 43, was filmed wresting a gun from the hands of a shooter in the rampage.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Dramatic video<\/a> from the shooting showed al Ahmed leaping out from behind a parked vehicle near the beachfront and wrestling one of the gunmen to the ground in a potentially fatal tussle. <\/p>\n

“I jumped in his back, hit him. I hold him with my right hand and start saying a word, you know, like to warn him, drop your gun, stop doing what you’re doing, and it’s come all in fast,” al Ahmed recalled of the altercation. <\/p>\n

“And emotionally, I’m doing something, which is I feel something, a power in my body, my brain,” he told CBS News.<\/p>\n

“I don’t want to see people killed in front of me, I don’t want to hear his gun, I don’t want to see people screaming and begging, asking for help, and that’s my soul asking me to do that.<\/p>\n

“Everything in my heart, in my brain, everything, it’s worked just to manage to save the peoples’ life.”<\/p>\n

More than NZD$2.3 million was raised<\/a> in support of al Ahmed and his family after the shooting, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commending him for “representing the best of Australia”. <\/p>\n

“He decided to take action, and his bravery is an inspiration for all Australians,” Albanese said. <\/p>\n

“He is a hero and that needs to be recognised and I’m absolutely certain that we will do that.”<\/p>\n

The attack marked the worst mass shooting in Australia’s history since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which left 36 dead. <\/p>\n

Australian officials described the shooting as a targeted antisemitic attack on Sydney\u2019s Jewish community. 15 were killed, including a 10-year-old girl<\/a>, and forty others were injured and taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

Police identified the attackers as 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was shot dead by officers at the scene, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahmed al Ahmed, hailed as a hero for tackling one of the gunmen behind an antisemitic terror attack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-206175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}