The recent terror attack at Bondi Beach, near Sydney, Australia, started about 6:45 p.m. on December 14, Australian time. Two terrorists opened fire with long guns on a Jewish celebration of the first day of Hanukkah. Sixteen people are reported dead, including one of the two attackers. Two police officers are among the 38 people killed or wounded, according to Wikipedia.
In a dramatic video from 9 Australia News, a bystander, later identified as Ahmed al Ahmed, surprises one of the terrorists from behind. He puts the terrorist, who is armed with a shotgun with an extended magazine and a red dot sight, into a headlock and wrestles the shotgun from the terrorist. He points the gun at the retreating terrorist, but does not or cannot fire. He has been reported as having no knowledge of firearms. An older man approaches the retreating terrorist and throws a bottle at him.
The other terrorist, armed with a bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight, waves for his confederate to join him on a footbridge. About 1:20 in the video, the terrorist, who was disarmed, has rearmed with another long gun and started shooting again. The man who threw the bottle has taken the shotgun and attempts to use it, but he does not appear to be successful. The man who threw the bottle is wounded, retreats, and falls down or is shot down.
At about 1:46, a police officer approaches behind the terrorist, who is armed with a scoped rifle. The officer has a handgun out and aimed at the terrorist, but does not appear to shoot.
The terrorist turns and sees the officer. The officer still does not appear to shoot, but ducks behind a tree. The officer still has the pistol aimed at the terrorist, but does not appear to shoot. The video is cut off at that point.
The man who tackled the terrorist and disarmed him is a hero. It is unfortunate he knew nothing about firearms, and could not shoot the terrorist. The terrorist was able to retreat, rearm and continue his attack against innocent people. The man who threw the bottle is also a hero. It is not clear which of the terrorists wounded the man who did the disarm, or who wounded the man who threw the bottle.
The terrorist who retreated had a medium-sized bag and a backpack. It was impossible to know what was in them at the time he was disarmed. The lesson is clear: do not allow an active shooter to retreat if it can be avoided. They may have other weapons, they may have explosives, they may continue the attack.
This correspondent does not see any evidence that the police officer at the tree with the pistol pointed at the terrorist, who was armed with a rifle, fired a shot. It would be expected that some motion of recoil would be noticed, and a shot would be heard on the video.
A clear picture and timeline of the event is not yet available. Casualty figures are not final. More information is expected to become available in the next few days.
Good news from X: “The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), the council of Imams NSW and the Australian Muslim Community unequivocally condemn the horrific shootings in Bondi.”
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
