Like many Australians strolling at Bondi Beach on long, warm summer evenings, Ahmed al Ahmed just wanted a cup of coffee with a friend. But around him, a bloody massacre erupted as two gunmen targeted Jews during Hanukkah festivities at a park close to the shore.
Soon al Ahmed was creeping, bent over, between two parked cars, before barrelling directly towards one of the unsuspecting shooters. In footage that has been viewed millions of times around the world, the 44-year-old father can be seen tackling one of the gunmen, wrestling the man’s shotgun from his grip and turning it on the attacker.
The story of the Syrian-Australian Muslim shop owner who put an end to the rampage of one of the shooters on Sunday has been seized upon by a country desperately seeking comfort after one of its darkest hours: the slaying of 15 people as they celebrated their Jewish faith.
“At a moment where we have seen evil perpetrated, he shines out as an example of the strength of humanity,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday, as he left a Sydney hospital where al Ahmed is being treated for gunshot wounds. “We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country.”
A fundraising page established by Australians who had never met al Ahmed had attracted by Tuesday night donations from some 40,000 people, who gave A$2.3 million (US$1.5 million). Among the supporters was the billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who pledged A$99,000.
Al Ahmed, who is married with two young daughters, faces a long struggle ahead, those who have spoken to him since Sunday’s massacre have said. He was shot multiple times in the left arm, apparently by the second gunman in the attack, as the man fired indiscriminately from a footbridge.
He has already undergone surgery and more operations are scheduled, said Lubaba alhmidi Alkahil, a spokesperson for the Australians for Syria Association, who visited al Ahmed in a hospital late on Monday. The “quiet and humble” man was conscious but frail and faced at least six months of recovery, Alkahil said.
In the days since the attack, a pile of floral tributes and notes of thanks has grown outside the small tobacco store al Ahmed owns opposite a railway station in suburban Sydney. Meanwhile, he has received visits at the hospital from Australia’s leaders, apparently telling Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales, that he would take the same action again.
He has been hailed as a hero by world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Australia’s governor general, who is the representative of Britain’s King Charles in the country. Minns said al Ahmed saved “countless” lives in what the premier said was “the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen”.
Al Ahmed lived in the town of Nayrab in Syria’s Idlib region before he arrived in Australia, according to his cousin Mohammad al Ahmed. He left Syria in 2006 after finishing his studies, before the 2011 mass protests against the government of former president Bashar al-Assad that were met with a brutal crackdown and spiralled into a nearly 14-year civil war.
Nayrab was heavily bombed by Assad’s forces, with most of the town’s houses flattened and reduced to rubble. On Tuesday, al Ahmed was the talk of the town.
“Ahmed did really a heroic job,” his cousin, Mohammad al Ahmed, said. “Without any hesitation, he tackled the terrorist and disarmed him just to save innocent people.”
Ahmed al Ahmed’s parents, who came to Sydney this year to reunite with their son, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that their son had served with the police and in the central security forces in Syria.
Father Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed said his son’s “conscience and soul” compelled him to act on Sunday.
“I feel pride and honour because my son is a hero of Australia,” the father said.
In the aftermath of the mass killing, a country roiling from one of the worst hate-fuelled attacks ever on its soil – allegedly committed by an Australian resident who arrived from India in 1998 and his Australian-born son – looked for hope amid their grief. Stories of heroism have started to emerge.
They included the tale of a married couple, Boris and Sofia Gurman, who were both killed while trying to stop one of the shooters as he climbed from his car and began the massacre, their family has told Australian news outlets.
Reuven Morrison, 62, was also killed while trying to stop the horror, according to his daughter, Sheina Gutnick. After al Ahmed wrestled the gun from one shooter, a person Gutnick identified as Morrison is seen throwing objects at the gunman – before he was shot by the second man.
“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking at all about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street,” Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed said of his son. “He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another, especially here in Australia; there’s no difference between one citizen and another.”
