A voice note from our reporter who was caught up in the Bondi shooting

We’re releasing an additional episode today featuring one of our reporters, Elias Visontay, who was at Bondi Beach with a friend on the day of the terror attack. Elias recounts his first-hand experience as the gunmen fired bullets at the unexpecting crowd.

You can read his story on our websites here.

And if you’re struggling with the bad news at the moment, support is available on Lifeline 13 11 14 or NSW Health mental health line, available 24/7 on 1800 011 511.

Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Hi, it's Samantha Selinger. Morris here. We're releasing an additional
episode today featuring one of our reporters, Elias. Elias recounts
his firsthand experience of the shooting at Bondi while he
was there with a friend. And if you're struggling with
the bad news at the moment, support is available on
lifeline 131114 or New South Wales Health mental Health line.

(00:25):
It's available 24 over seven on 1800 011 511.

S2 (00:34):
I'm Elias Vazante, I'm a reporter at the Sydney Morning
Herald and I was there at Bondi. I was swimming
in the water when the gunshots started ringing out. Initially
we thought they were fireworks, but soon we just realised
they kept going. It was a pretty idyllic summer day.

(00:58):
It was still nice and warm right near sunset. And
so we just dashed down and as we'd parked and
were walking to the water, Uh, me and a friend
ran into someone we knew, and he asked us if
we were going to the Hanukkah event. You know, as
Jews in Sydney's pretty small but tight knit Jewish community,
it's it's relatively common to run into someone, you know

(01:21):
at Bondi Beach. And we told him that, look, we
weren't there. We were there to swim. But, hey, we'd
probably pass through on the way back. Hanukkah is a
festival where we celebrate by eating oily foods, especially jam
filled doughnuts, and the idea of a doughnut after a
swim sounded great.

S3 (01:40):
How many? Why? It's enough just to fill Hanukkah.

S2 (01:46):
We obviously never got that doughnut. About 15 seconds after
we first heard the gunshots and realized that they were gunshots,
I kind of put two and two together, thought of
that Hanukkah event, and very quickly started seeing people running
from that direction. It was about 100m away, so we

(02:06):
just raced out of the water and ran along with
hundreds of other people from the beach, everyone still dripping
in seawater. Sandy. And it was the northern part of Bondi.
And everyone basically ran upwards up the hill there and

(02:28):
up into the streets, suburban streets. And we were hiding. Basically,
people were taking cover behind garages and unit blocks. It
was a surreal experience.

S4 (02:40):
Get on the ground.

S2 (02:43):
It felt like the shots kept going for minutes. They
just didn't stop. It was excruciating. And when we finally
started to hear the sirens of first responders, then we
could hear there was a bit of resistance and then
the shots became less frequent. We were all kind of

(03:05):
trying to take cover, but peer in to see what
was happening. Finally, when we'd not heard gunshots for a
few minutes, we walked closer down to where the event was.
I'd parked right next to it And when we could
see ambulances arriving on scene, attending to people on the ground,

(03:27):
we realized it was best to get get out of
there as quick as we could. So we drove off
and basically as I was driving back towards my place
in Sydney's inner west, it was just a constant sea
of ambulances and first responders coming the other way. I
think it's a very tricky thing to know what to

(03:49):
do in a situation like this. One of the thoughts
that bizarrely ran through my head as I was driving
away from the scene, uh, was the fact that I'd
made off with my belongings still at the beach. My
sandals were still sitting on the sand. Uh, and then
very quickly you realise how insignificant that really is. I

(04:13):
think it's been an incredibly difficult time for the community here.
It just feels like with every hour that passes, you're
learning more of someone's friend or relative who has been
caught up in this, whether they were just at the
scene or increasingly hearing stories of people who've been injured
and and killed. I've heard stories of a friend's cousin who, um,

(04:37):
was saved, thankfully, by a woman who they didn't know, who, uh,
stood in front and shielded them from a shot. That
woman's now in hospital. Uh, but I've heard other stories
of people who have not been that lucky. I think now,
as the community and the city at large, still responding

(05:00):
and grappling and coming to terms with what's happened, you
start to realize just how lucky someone like myself and
my friend were, that we were able to realize what
was happening so quickly and get to safety and the
way we did.