By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Like many Australians strolling at Bondi Beach on long, warm summer evenings, Ahmed al Ahmed just wanted a cup of coffee with a friend. 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 barreling directly toward 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.
Millions have been raised for Bondi hero
“At a moment where we have seen evil perpetrated, he shines out as an example of the strength of humanity,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said 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 by some 40,000 people, who gave 2.3 million Australian dollars ($1.5 million). Among the supporters was the billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who pledged AU$99,000.
Father of two faces a long recovery
Al Ahmed, who is married with two young daughters, faces a long struggle ahead, those who have spoken to him since Sunday’s massacre say. 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 Monday. The “quiet and humble” man was conscious but frail and faced at least six months of recovery, Alkahil said.
A prime minister and a president are fans
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 train 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 state, that he’d take the same action again.
He has been hailed as a hero by world leaders including U.S. 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 was once a police officer
Al Ahmed lived in the town of Nayrab in Syria’s Idlib region before he arrived in Australia, his cousin Mohammad al Ahmed told The Associated Press. He left Syria in 2006 after finishing his studies, before the 2011 mass protests against the government of then-President Bashar Assad that were met with a brutal crackdown and spiraled 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 told The Associated Press. “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 Australian Broadcasting Corp. 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 honor because my son is a hero of Australia,” the father said.
Tale of heroism gives hope amid tragedy
In the aftermath of the mass killing, a country roiling from one of the worst hate-fueled 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.
Acts of courage like these were cited by many on social media and in news outlets as examples of what being Australian should mean.
“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.”
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Associated Press writers Abdelrahman Shaheen reported from Damascus, Syria and Abdulmajeed Darweesh from Nayrab, Syria.