Bystander shown in videos disarming gunman during Australian beach shooting commended for bravery

Police in Sydney, Australia say the gunmen were attacking a Jewish event celebrating the start of the Hanukkah.

SYDNEY -- A bystander seen in a widely circulated video disarming a gunman during a deadly shooting rampage at a popular Australian beach is being heralded as a hero who saved lives.

Video footage posted to social media shows a passerby dressed in a white T-shirt and dark pants crouching behind a parked car before sneaking up behind a gunman, grabbing him and wrestling away his firearm. The bystander then points the weapon at the gunman, who falls to the ground.

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The intervention drew wide praise, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns called it the “most unbelievable scene.”

“A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people,” Minns said. “That man is a genuine hero.”

The bystander was identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed by 7NEWS Australia, which interviewed his cousin.

He was shot twice, with wounds to his arm and hand and needed to undergo surgery, according to the cousin identified by the news outlet as Mustafa. He said his cousin is a fruit shop owner and father of two from Sydney.

“We hope he will be fine,” Mustafa said. “He’s a hero. One hundred percent, he’s a hero.”

New South Wales Police acknowledged the bystander’s actions, but could not confirm his identity. “Inquiries are continuing and we are still endeavoring to identify all involved,” police said in an e-mailed statement.

Father and son gunmen attacked a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounded dozens of others. The attack is being called an act of antisemitic terrorism.

The massacre at one of Australia’s most popular and iconic beaches followed a wave of antisemitic attacks that have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those episodes and Sunday’s shooting were connected. It is the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws.

Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal, Sophie Royle and Aaron McNicholas, Reuters