Police have declared the shooting a terrorist incident and revealed they also found explosive material at the scene.
SYDNEY—Eyewitnesses and police have described scenes of chaos and terror at Bondi Beach after two young gunmen opened fire into crowds gathered along the promenade, killing 12 people and leaving dozens more injured.
The attack unfolded as families marked the first night of Hanukkah, turning one of Sydney’s busiest public spaces into the centre of a major counter-terrorism operation.
“There was a lot of gunshots. Two young guys under 18—according to what everyone explained—and they were shooting from this bridge,” said Todd Mahon, in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“I saw multiple dead bodies on the ground, people being given CPR, it was hectic. I don’t know what to say,” he said.
He recalled hearing shots around 7:00–8:00 pm and said the rapid bursts left him frightened.
“And yeah, I got scared from the gunshots,” he said.
Meanwhile, Oct. 7 survivor and international human rights lawyer, Arsen Ostrovsky, appeared to be grazed by a bullet while attending the Sydney event.
“I survived October 7. We lived in Israel for the last 13 years. We came here only two weeks ago to work with the Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism. We’ve lived through worse, we’re going to get through worse, and we’re going to get the bastards who did this,” he told Channel 9 after posting an image of himself with blood covering his head and face.
Declared Terrorist Incident, Bombs Found
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the number of casualties had grown as hospitals provided updates, with a total of 29 people injured.
“We know that there were many people there to celebrate a happy occasion—the celebration of Hanukkah. And there was well over 1,000 people there when this took place,” he said.
“As a result of the circumstances of the incident tonight, at 9:36 p.m. this evening, I declared this to be a terrorist incident.”
Shortly after the attack, officers located a vehicle parked on Campbell Parade that they believe may contain improvised explosive devices.
“We have our rescue bomb disposal unit there at the moment working on that,” Commissioner Lanyon said.
Asked whether either of the alleged gunmen were known to police or ASIO, he said it was too early to confirm, but the timing of the attack, the weapons used, and the items recovered justified the terrorism designation.
When pressed about how two men could carry out an attack involving firearms, potential explosives, and the possibility of a third person, he defended police preparedness.
“Well, I think if you think about the size of the community here, our police do a fantastic job day in, day out,” he said.
“You see the work that we do to prevent crimes happening. We need intelligence to actually do that. As I said, the person that we know has very, very little knowledge to the police. So he’s not someone that we would have automatically been looking at at this time.”
The two injured police officers remained in surgery late Dec. 14, with Commissioner Lanyon saying their condition was “serious, verging on critical.”
Commissioner Lanyon said ages of victims could not yet be confirmed due to the scale of the emergency response.
“As you can imagine, there has been a fair dislocation. [The] ambulance service responded brilliantly,” he said. “They’ve had to convey people right around the city to numerous hospitals. So at this stage we don’t have those details.”
NSW Leader Condemns Attack
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns condemned the attack, saying it was clearly directed at Sydney’s Jewish community.
“What should have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in that community with families and supporters, has been shattered by this horrifying evil attack,” he told reporters.
“Our heart bleeds for Australia’s Jewish community tonight. I can only imagine the pain that they’re feeling right now to see their loved ones killed as they celebrate this ancient holiday,” he said.
Minns called on the wider public to stand in solidarity.
As the investigation continues, police maintain a large exclusion zone across Bondi Beach and surrounding streets.
