The daughter of a Bondi Beach victim has broken her silence about her father, saying he died a hero.
Fifteen innocent people were killed and 40 injured in Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach after Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, allegedly opened fire on beachgoers attending a Hanukkah event.
Shooting victim Ahmed Al Ahmed became a household name after footage of him tackling and disarming one of the gunmen went viral.
Another person could be seen flinging objects at the shooter moments before he was shot and killed. He has been identified as businessman Reuven Morrison.
“What stands out is not chaos or panic but resolve,” one person who shared the footage said.
“Faced with pure evil, he did not retreat, hide or save himself.
“He confronted it head-on, buying precious moments for others at the cost of his own life.
“This was not recklessness. It was courage in its purest form. Reuven Morrison chose self-sacrifice over self-preservation.”
Morrison’s daughter, Sheina Gutnick, has come forward, telling CBS News her father was a hero who “went down fighting”.
“From my sources and understanding, he had jumped up the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks at the terrorist.
“If there was one way for him to go on this earth, it would be fighting a terrorist. There was no other way he would be taken from us.”
‘A brave country’
Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Ahmed as he recovers from multiple gunshot wounds at Sydney’s St George Hospital.
In a video shared to the leader’s X today, the Prime Minister shook hands with the 43-year-old and thanked him for his courage.
Ahmed has been praised as a hero after video showed the Sydney shop owner creeping up behind Sajid and taking him by surprise as he wrestled his firearm away.
“We are a brave country. Ahmed Al Ahmed represents the best of our country,” Albanese told reporters outside the hospital.
“We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists seek. We will unite, we will embrace each other, and we’ll get through this.”
Ahmed, you are an Australian hero.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 16, 2025
You put yourself at risk to save others, running towards danger on Bondi Beach and disarming a terrorist.
In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians. And that's exactly what we saw on Sunday night.
On behalf of every Australian, I… pic.twitter.com/mAoObU3TZD
Antisemitism a ‘scourge’
Gutnick also shared her concerns about the safety of Australia’s Jewish community, stating she felt “betrayed” by the Government.
“Australia’s not a home for Jews anymore. It can’t be. If we are shot dead while celebrating our religious festival of lights, of pride, of celebrating who we are, and if we can’t do that, Australia is not a house for us anymore. We can’t be here.”
On Monday, Albanese told reporters at a Bondi memorial that anti-Semitic sentiments will not be tolerated in Australia.
“Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out anti-Semitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together.”
Australian police are currently probing Isis links to the shooting.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed this afternoon two homemade Isis flags were recovered from the vehicle used by Naveed as police continue to investigate the motivations for the attack.
The father and son had travelled to the Philippines in November, a lead Lanyon confirmed police are actively probing.
According tomedia reports, local immigration has confirmed the suspects were in the country from November 1-28.
They declared their destination as Davao, Mindanao, an area of the southern Philippines that has been linked to extremist groups.