In his first major interview since the deadly antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach, Syrian-Australian Muslim shop owner Ahmed Al-Ahmed has opened up about the harrowing moments when he single-handedly disarmed one of the gunmen, potentially saving countless lives during a Hanukkah celebration turned nightmare.
The 43-year-old father of two, now hailed as a national hero, told CBS News that an inner drive compelled him to act: "My soul told me to do it."
The attack unfolded on December 14 at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, where a group of Islamic terrorists opened fire on a crowd gathered for Hanukkah festivities, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more in Australia's deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades.
Security footage, widely circulated on social media, captured Al-Ahmed leaping from behind a parked car to confront one of the assailants bare-handed, wrestling away his rifle in a desperate struggle.
"I jumped on his back, hit him. I held him with my right hand and started saying words to warn him: Drop the gun, stop doing what you're doing. Everything happened fast," Al-Ahmed recounted in the CBS interview published today.
Despite sustaining injuries during the confrontation, he emphasized that fear took a backseat to his singular goal: preventing further bloodshed. "My aim was just to take the rifle from him, to stop him from taking human lives and not to kill innocent people," he said.
