A father and son with known ties to extremist networks were identified Tuesday as the gunmen behind Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in more than 30 years. Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed opened fire at a public Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, killing 15 people and injuring 42 others, including two police officers.
Sajid Akram, a Pakistani-born Australian citizen, arrived in the country in 1998 on a student visa. His son was born in Australia. According to authorities, the pair were armed with at least three long rifles, and a flag linked to the Islamic State group was found in their vehicle. Sajid was killed after several minutes of gunfire, while Naveed was critically wounded and remains hospitalized.
The shooting at Bondi Beach
The massacre began at 6:47 p.m. on Monday during a Chabad-organized Hanukkah event attended by hundreds of community members. Eyewitness video and surveillance footage captured more than six minutes of sustained shooting. Families ran for cover as victims fell, many struck while trying to protect loved ones.
Australian intelligence officials confirmed that in 2019, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) opened an investigation into Naveed Akram over connections to an ISIS-linked cell in Sydney. However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there had been no evidence at the time of an imminent threat. The Al-Murad Islamic center in Sydney, where Navid had studied for one year, issued a strong condemnation of the attack. Its founder, Adam Ismail, said Naveed attended Quran and Arabic classes in 2019, adding, “I unequivocally condemn this act of violence and express my condolences to the victims, their families and the Jewish community.”
The victims include several prominent members of the local Jewish and Israeli community. Among the 15 confirmed dead are Rabbi Eli Schlanger, 41, a Chabad emissary who helped organize the event; Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 87, who was killed protecting his wife; Tibor Weitzman, who was also reportedly shot while shielding his spouse; Dan Elkayam, 27, a French-Israeli who had immigrated to Sydney a year ago; Rabbi Yaakov Halevi Levitin, also from Chabad; Reuben Morrison, 62, originally from the former Soviet Union; Peter Maiger, a retired New South Wales police officer who was photographing the event; and 10-year-old Matilda, whose family released her photo but withheld her last name.
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From top left to right: Alex Kleytman, Rabbi Yaakov Halevi Levitin, Reuben Morrison, Eli Schlanger, and Dan Elkayam
Forty-two others were injured, with 11 listed in serious condition, including two police officers. Hospitals across Sydney remain on high alert.
Naveed’s mother, Verna Akram, told Australian media that her son had said he and his father were heading to Jervis Bay for a fishing trip. “He called me and said, ‘Mom, we went swimming, we’re about to eat,’” she recalled. She described her son as a quiet and nonviolent man who avoided drinking, smoking or socializing and had recently lost his job at a construction company. She said he “never had a gun” and “wasn’t someone to hurt others.”
The Akram family lived in a modest three-bedroom home in Bonnyrigg, a western Sydney suburb. Neighbors described them as quiet, with little interaction with the community. “They seemed like normal people. We never imagined this,” one neighbor said.
Minute-by-minute account of the massacre
The shooting has rattled Australia’s Jewish community. Many Israeli and Jewish-owned restaurants remained closed Tuesday, and several Hanukkah celebrations in Sydney and Melbourne were canceled. A grassroots memorial initiative has emerged, calling on the public to light candles in their windows at 6:47 p.m. — the exact time the attack began — in memory of the victims.
Eyal, an Israeli who has lived in Sydney for three years, said that the attack shattered his sense of security. “We came here to escape the pressure in Israel. We were planning to go back at the end of next year, but that might happen sooner. The bubble we lived in has burst.”
Australian police continue to investigate the motive behind the attack, and how the two men were able to carry out such a large-scale assault despite prior warnings. Prime Minister Albanese described the shooting as “a heinous act of terror” and said authorities would review existing protocols for identifying and preventing domestic threats.