A mystery bystander is being hailed as a hero online after a shocking mass shooting at an iconic beach in Sydney, Australia, that was hosting a Jewish event.
Graphic scenes are emerging from Bondi Beach after at least 12 people were shot dead and 29 others were injured, officials confirmed. One of the two gunmen is dead, while the other is in custody. Among the wounded are two police officers.
Gunfire was heard on the popular beachfront on Sunday evening just before 7 p.m. local time, with witnesses telling the Daily Mail that they saw two men exit a vehicle close to the waterfront and begin firing on beachgoers.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that more than 1000 people were at the beach when the shooting took place. “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,” Lanyon said.
Footage widely shared across social media shows a bystander tackling one of the gunmen and prising his gun from his hands before turning the weapon on the attacker and forcing him to retreat.
“It’s the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen a man,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said in a late-night press conference. “Walking to a gunman… and singlehandedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk.. that man is a genuine hero and I’ve got no doubt there are many, many people alive due to his bravery.”
Extraordinary vision reportedly taken from the scene of the Bondi Beach shooting appears to a show a man heroically tackling and disarming one of the shooters.
Vision circulating social media shows an unidentified bystander approaching the gunman, who had just discharged his… pic.twitter.com/GJIRYJcD0W— 10 News (@10NewsAU) December 14, 2025
In separate footage, two men can be seen standing on a passenger bridge while firing multiple shots into the parkland that surrounds the beach.
“This cowardly act of terrifying violence is shocking and painful to see and represents some of our worst fears about terrorism in Sydney,” Minns added.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah, 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.”
Bondi beach pic.twitter.com/pQBo5EbCiw
— Australian Jewish Association (@AustralianJA) December 14, 2025
Bondi is an area of the city with a large Jewish population, and Sunday marks the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
A “Chanukah by the Sea” event, planned for Sunday, began at 5 p.m. local time on the beach where community members were set to light the first candle on a giant Menorah, enjoy a petting farm, and receive free face painting.
“Join Chabad of Bondi for our Annual Chanukah Festival as We Celebrate Jewish Life by lighting up the Iconic Bondi Beach,” the event information page reads.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added at the press conference. “This is an act of evil antisemitism terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation. Every Australian tonight will be like me, devastated over this attack on our way of life. There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation. Let me be clear, we will eradicate it.”
Tension between community groups has been increasingly strained in Australia following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in 2023.
Sydney has been the site of multiple anti-war protests, including one demonstration in November that saw up to a million people march across the famous Harbour Bridge.
“The events at Bondi Beach are an absolute atrocity. A horror for the victims and a massive escalation of the hatred directed at Australia’s Jewish community,” former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbot said on X.
“There should be no place in Australia for the kind of evil we’ve seen this evening,” he added. “Thank God one bystander heroically intervened showing the good side of our country.”
Bondi Beach is one of the world’s most iconic beaches and a central hub of Sydney life. With close proximity to the CBD, a vibrant community, and world-class surf, this waterfront neighbourhood is known for its luxury properties and upper-class living.
On Sunday evening, the beach was packed with holidaymakers and locals cooling off in the water from the 90-degree heat when the shooting began.
Video footage of the incident shows hundreds of people sprinting across the white sand for cover as shots ring out in the background.
Witnesses say dozens of shots were fired, while other imagery shows bullets and casings from high-powered rifle weaponry on the floor.
“For twenty minutes, they shoot, shoot. Change magazines and just shoot,” one Israeli eyewitness told a 7 News journalist who was on the scene.
“It’s terrible. In the middle of Bondi. It’s terrible.”
This community is no stranger to tragedy. The Bondi neighborhood was the subject of a mass stabbing incident in April of last year, with six people stabbed to death and 12 people injured at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre. That incident was not considered a terror attack.
The post Hero Tackles Terrorist Attacking Jewish Event at Iconic Australian Beach appeared first on The Daily Beast.
