Hero bystander currently in hospital in critical condition

Bailey Kenzie reports from Bondi Beach 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, we're crossing to Sydney now.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Bailey Kenzie is a nine News reporter who is on
the scene in Bondi.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning, Thank you, Bailey, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
So you're on site at the moment. How is it
looking in the aftermath of this terrorist attack.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's just such an eerie feeling down here this morning.
I mean, it feels like everything has come to a pause. Yesterday,
as you can imagine, there was a lot of shock,
a lot of fast moving elements to all of this,
and today it feels like everything has come still. There
is an incredibly large media contingent on the corner here,
just set up by the police tape and a lot

(00:36):
of people coming down. We saw a lady come down
just moments ago. She was in absolute tears. She was
in shock. She yelled out. There was just bodies. There
were bodies everywhere. It's an awful, awful time down here
at Bondi at the moment. There's a lot of emotion here,
but like I said, it really does feel like everything
has slowed down a little bit this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
The bloke that disarmed one of the shooters, his name
is Ahmed el Arhmad, has anyone talked more about him
that you've heard of. I mean, there's a lot of
people saying already a struggling of the year, and knight
him and hope he never has to pay for a
beer again.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
But he is a true hero.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Have you heard anything about where he's at right now
and where he is was he hurt?

Speaker 3 (01:22):
He is a hero. He is a hero. He's a
hero who's recovering this morning in hospital. That's our understanding.
At the moment. We understand that he sustained a number
of gunshot wounds, and last night we have been told
that he underwent surgery, as you would have heard. There
are a number of reports elsewhere that he runs a
local fruit shop at Sutherland. Just an absolute heroic act

(01:43):
and a split second decision that you can see in
that vision. It would have saved so many more lives
disarming that gunman, tossing the gun to the ground, but
shortly thereafter, it is understood that he sustained a number
of gunshots. But at the moment his condition is he
sustained serious injuries. He's recovering in hospital this morning. His
family had spoken to media last night and they said

(02:07):
that they were in shock, at what happened, but no
doubt such a heroic act. But this morning, yes, recovering
in hospital, watching.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
Just watching how and it's the one sort of bit
of footage that I've seen over and over and over
and over again. His decision to actually run that gunman down.
From the distance that he did it from, yes, like
it would have only taken the gunman to turn around
and he was toast, but he was able to just
be brave and quick enough to just go up behind him.

(02:34):
Absolutely extraordinary.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
It's just remarkable, isn't it, Those fight and flight moments
and he chose to fight. He spotted his moment, he
saw when the gunman had turned around, his back was
two in. But there were several other immediate threats. We
saw the other gunman who was still on the bridge
when he ran to that gunment and disarmed him. So
such heroic stuff and split second decision. You see the

(02:58):
moment that he moved in, he picked his moment and
grab the gun, tossed it on the ground despite that
that threat still remaining. He's just amazing stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, I mean, so much would have been going through
his head and I know many Australians will be discussing
this because he is that the hero of the moment.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
So many more could have died because of what he did.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I think he saved hundreds of lives, to be honest,
but so many people would be thinking, you know, why.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Didn't he shoot him? Why didn't he do that?

Speaker 2 (03:25):
But I think inherently good people don't think to kill
another person, and that would be what I think would
have been going through his head. You know. Hindsight is
we didn't know there was another government and that they
were just going to keep going. And I know that
there's been a lot of conversations about what, you know,
wish he had have just shot the guy he had
the moment, But I feel like as a good person,

(03:46):
he would have been.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Like, I don't want to kill somebody. I just want
to disarm them.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
It is hard to put yourself in his shoes, isn't it.
He was faced with just such a split second decision,
and he had the choice to take a life in
that moment, and he chose not to bite the terror
that that person had so obviously inflicted. And this morning
more terror has being revealed as well. We know now
the death toll has risen to sixteen forty people are injured,

(04:10):
and that also includes two police officers as a number
of people who are in hospitals across Sydney. But those
actions from Ahmad may well have saved so many more
lives and him tossing the gun on the ground is
it's vision that's going to be replayed for years and
years to come.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Mater, are you where you are now? Are you close
to that bridge? Is it kind of weird looking across
at the bridge where a lot of the action was
happening with that gunman up on the top of the
bridge where he was eventually shot.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Oh. Absolutely, We're just down here on the corner now,
and from where I am at the moment, I can
see I can see that bridge. From where we are now,
there's a number of evidence markers. There's a number of
forensic police who are there taking photos and moving around
that foldge that bridge. Rather media here. We're being kept
back a fair way, probably around one hundred meters or so,

(05:02):
but there is such a large police presence. But as
you said, it is just so frightening to know what
unfolded on that bridge yesterday and to be looking at
it right now. It really is awful stuff.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, I would imagine.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Well, Bailey, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
We might cross to you again because we know that
a lot of the premier New Southwest Premier is about
to speak our premiere, so we might cross back to you.
But thank you for giving us some time this morning.