How horror Bondi Beach terror attack unfolded

As we record this on Sunday night, 12 people, including the shooter, have been confirmed dead in a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, with the New South Wales Police Commissioner declaring it a terrorist incident. The number of dead has since increased to 16, including a child.

Dozens of people had been gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah, the most joyous holiday on the Jewish calendar, before two gunmen opened fire on them.

Among the injured is a survivor of the October 7 attack in Israel, who said he moved to Australia only two weeks ago to work with the Jewish community to fight antisemitism.

Today, chief reporter Jordan Baker from the scene of the Bondi Beach massacre.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
His cowardly act of terrifying violence is shocking and painful
to see, and represents some of our worst fears about terrorism.
In Sydney.

S2 (00:11):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age,
this is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Seelinger Morris. As
we record this on Sunday night, 12 people have been
confirmed killed in a mass shooting in Sydney, with the
New South Wales Police commissioner declaring it a terrorist incident.
Multiple people were also injured at Bondi Beach, where hundreds

(00:33):
of people were gathered to mark the first night of Hanukkah,
the most joyous holiday on the Jewish calendar. Among the
injured is a survivor of the October 7th attack in Israel,
who said he moved to Australia only two weeks ago
to work with the Jewish community to fight anti-Semitism today.
Chief reporter Jordan Baker from the scene of the Bondi

(00:54):
Beach massacre. So, Jordan, you are at Bondi right now.
You went there shortly after reports of shots fired at
a communal event. So what is the scene like there now?

S3 (01:09):
It's very bleak. Sam are there? People are just wandering
around in a daze. You know, I spoke to people
who have just watched, uh, you know, people being massacred. Um, they,
you know, were telling me what was happening, and, and
their voice was, was cracking. They didn't they didn't believe

(01:30):
what they'd just seen. I don't think anyone has believes
what's just happened here tonight.

S1 (01:36):
I very sadly need to report that as of now,
there are at least 12 individuals that have been killed.
One of the offenders has also been killed and one
is in custody. This attack was designed to target Sydney's
Jewish community. On the first day of Hanukkah, what should
have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in

(01:59):
that community with families and supporters has been shattered by
this horrifying evil attack.

S3 (02:07):
Um, you know, the paramedics, the surf lifesavers, the the
the police. Which guy who was, um, at the function?
He's a Jewish chaplain with the emergency service. And, you know,
he had he still had blood on his hands and
blood all over his shirt because the man next to
him at the function was shot and slumped on him. Um,

(02:28):
this is sort of beyond anything that anyone could have
imagined could have happened in Sydney.

S2 (02:35):
And so talk to us about how this actually first unfolded.
What happened.

S3 (02:40):
So there was a function, a Hanukkah function. It was
an enclosed area on the beach not far. There's a
there's a there's a concrete kind of bridge at Bondi,
which is kind of famous bridge. And it wasn't far
from there. There was quite a big area. There would
have been 150 people at this event. Um, there was
a barbecue, there was a petting zoo for the kids.
There was balloons, there was music. There was sort of,

(03:01):
you know, a little stage area where there were chairs
lined up for the kids to watch. I spoke to
one guy who lives in a van in the car
park at Bondi, and his van door was open. He
was sitting inside and he saw these two men, all
dressed all in black, wearing what appeared to be bulletproof vests,
just suddenly open fire on this gathering. And people obviously

(03:24):
started running. They started screaming. They were hiding under cars. Um,
and these men were just picking them off. And a
lot of the people from, from eyewitness reports that seem
to be elderly people who were slower are getting away. Um,
you know, and quickly people are sort of raced up

(03:45):
the beach or hid under cars. There were a couple
of people who ended up hiding in this man's van.
And absolute terror, shock, chaos, um, horror. You know, this
was a very hot day in Sydney. So a lot
of people at the beach, it was twilight. It was
cooling down. It was a beautiful night. Sound like there
was a purple sunset? Um. And then this horror just

(04:06):
unfolded on the most iconic beach in Sydney. And so
I was talking to people, you know, a couple of
guys who were in the surf, heard it happen, saw
everyone running, kind of wandered up to see what was happening.
They reckon they were sort of a hundred, 150 shots fired.
The guy in the van said he thinks it was
an assault rifle and a shotgun. You could hear the

(04:27):
choppers above me now. Um, you know, a couple of
the guys saw a mother and her two kids hiding
under a car. They pulled the mother out and sort
of stem the bleeding in a really bad shotgun wound
to her neck. The little girl gave them her daddy's
mobile number so they could call this woman's husband. When
I arrived, there were dozens and dozens of police cars,

(04:52):
ambulances lined up, getting their stretches out. There were there
were walking wounded, being ushered to the surf club. There
were people washing the blood that people surf lifesavers from Bondi,
washing them off their surf skis. It was it was terrifying.
It was horrible. It was. It was so, um, it

(05:12):
was such a horrific juxtaposition between this beautiful Sydney night,
like purple sky as the sun set over this iconic
beach and just the absolute horror and devastation that it
had just unfolded.

S2 (05:27):
And Jordan, you've covered mass casualty incidents before, but what
is going through your mind tonight as you stand there
at Bondi?

S3 (05:33):
I've never covered anything like this. I've never covered anything
like this. This is Sydney. I think, you know, this
night will change Sydney forever. Yeah. I can't, you know,
the Bondi stabbing, um, was not long ago. Absolutely horrific.
Horrendous loss of life. This is. This is a whole

(05:54):
different ball game. This is more dead. And it seems like,
you know, bad actors. We will find out more about
who these people were in the coming days. But I've
I've been a journalist for 25 years and I've never
seen anything like this.

S2 (06:11):
Thank you so much, Jordan, for your time.

S3 (06:13):
Thank you.

S2 (06:17):
Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by Tammy Mills,
with technical assistance by Josh towers. Tom McKendrick is our
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
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(06:40):
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Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris,
thanks for listening.