Australia plans tougher gun laws after police say father and son killed 15 at Bondi Beach

Australia vowed stricter gun laws today (15 December) as it began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which police accused a father-and-son duo of killing 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Sydney's famed Bondi Beach.

The incident has raised questions whether Australia's gun laws, among the toughest in the world, need overhaul, with police saying the older suspect had held a firearms license since 2015, along with six registered weapons.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his cabinet agreed to strengthen gun laws and work on a national firearms register to tackle aspects such as the number of weapons permitted by gun licences, and how long the latter are valid.

"People's circumstances can change," he had told reporters before the cabinet met. "People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity."

Of the two gunmen, the 50-year-old father was killed at the scene, taking the tally of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son was in critical condition in hospital, police told a press conference.

The 40 people taken to hospital after the attack included two police officers in serious but stable condition, they added. The victims were aged between 10 and 87.

Police did not release the suspects' names. Security officials said one was known to authorities but had not been deemed an immediate threat.

"We are very much working through the background of both persons. At this stage, we know very little about them," New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.

National broadcaster ABC and other media identified the men as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram. Home Minister Tony Burke said the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while his son is an Australian-born citizen.

Police gave no details of their firearms, but videos from the scene showed the men firing weapons that appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.

Two flags of militant group Islamic State were found in the gunmen's vehicle, ABC News said, without citing a source.

Albanese said measures being considered ranged from curbs on open-ended licences to limits on weapons held by a single individual and the types that are legal, including modifications, with permits restricted to Australian citizens.

Hero bystander disarms gunman before being wounded

Witnesses said the 10-minute attack at the beach, crowded on a hot weekend evening, sent about 1,000 people attending a Hanukkah event fleeing along the sand and into nearby streets.

A bystander, Ahmed al Ahmed, captured on video tackling and disarming an armed man during the attack, has been hailed as a hero whose action saved lives. He went under surgery after being shot twice. A fundraising page drew more than A$1,000,000 ($665,000) for him.

Bondi resident Morgan Gabriel, 27, said she had been heading to a nearby cinema when she heard what she thought were fireworks, before people started running up her street.

"Their phones had been left down the beach, and everyone was just trying to get away," she said, adding that two of the six or seven she sheltered turned out to be close friends.

"It's a very sad time this morning," she said, with the beach bare of the usual throng of swimmers, surfers and runners.

"So this is very, very quiet. And there's definitely a solemn sort of vibe."

Mourners paid respects and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial at the Bondi pavilion draped in Israeli and Australian flags as police and private Jewish security guards patrolled.

"What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism," Albanese told reporters after laying flowers at Bondi Beach.

"The Jewish community are hurting today," he added. "Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together."

World leaders condemn attack

World leaders from US President Donald Trump to French President Emmanuel Macron had offered condolences and support, Albanese said.

Sunday's shootings were the most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had warned Albanese that Australia's support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.

In August, Australia accused Iran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks and gave its ambassador a week to leave the country.

Mass shootings are rare in Australia, one of the world's safest countries. Sunday's attack was the worst since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in the southern island state of Tasmania.

"You can very easily become very angry and try to blame people, turn on people, but that's not what this is about," said

Rabbi Mendel Kastel, whose brother-in-law Eli Schlanger was killed on Sunday.

"We need to step up at a time like this ... And we will, and we will get through this, and we know that. The Australian community will help us do it."

Jews number about 150,000 of Australia's population of 27 million, with about a third estimated to live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, including Bondi.

($1=1.5035 Australian dollars)