The two gunmen were father and son: Bondi Beach that killed 15
Just about 12 hours after the shooting at Bondi Beach, the area around site at the northern end of Campbell Parade is still cordoned off with a significant police presence.
The media has set up at the corner closest to the site and a large crowd of onlookers have gathered at a cafe across the road.
It should be an ordinary Monday morning with people getting their coffees, walking their dogs or taking their kids to the playground.
Instead, there is now an air of lingering anxiety and shock, as squad cars patrol the streets and police tape blocks off a large swathe of the neighbourhood.
In a news conference just now, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said lives were saved because of the lessons learned from the mass stabbing at a Bondi shopping centre last year.
He said he was “convinced” lives would have otherwise been lost would have been lost and went on to praise the emergency workers as an inspiration.
In a country that prides itself on its gun restrictions and low violent crime rates, these are unfortunate lessons – it’s all too easy to give recent examples of violent attacks on Australian soil.
It’s no America but the line that everyone resorts to – “this sort of thing never happens in Australia” – feels outdated now.
Australians are in shock. So too are the authorities having to investigate this.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog acknowledged the attack while speaking at an event in Jerusalem recognizing immigrants’ extraordinary achievements on Sunday.
“At these very moments, our sisters and brothers in Sydney, Australia, have been attacked by vile terrorists in a very cruel attack on Jews who went to light the first candle of Chanukah on Bondi Beach,” Herzog said. “Our hearts go out to them. The heart of the entire nation of Israel misses a beat at this very moment, as we pray for the recovery of the wounded, we pray for them and we pray for those who lost their lives.”
