The gunmen at the Campbell Parade footbridge; Archer Park is to the left An editor has nominated the above file for discussion of its purpose and/or potentialdeletion. You are welcome toparticipate in the discussion and help reach a consensus.
Location of the shooting in Sydney
Location
Archer Park,Bondi Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Aterrorist mass shooting occurred on 14 December 2025 at Archer Park besideBondi Beach inSydney, Australia. It took place in the late afternoon during aHanukkah celebration hosted by theChabad of Bondi in which a thousand people were in attendance. Police and Australian intelligence agencies declared it anIslamic State-linked terrorist incident, and numerous world leaders, news outlets and Australian authorities described it as antisemitic.
Two gunmen shot at the crowd and killed fifteen people, including a child. Police killed one of the two perpetrators and took the second into custody. An unarmed bystander had intervened and disarmed one of the gunmen. Police said the alleged gunmen were father and son. Forty-two people, including at least two police officers, were injured and taken to various hospitals. TheNew South Wales Police Force responded to the incident and later found and removed a suspected homemade bomb from a car belonging to one of the shooters. Australian prime ministerAnthony Albanese said it was a deliberate attack onJewish people during the first day of Hanukkah.
The incident took place at an annualChabad community event ("Chanukah by the Sea"), to celebrate the beginning ofHanukkah.[13][14] The event was held at Archer Park just east of theBondi Pavilion, and was attended by nearly 1,000 people.[1]
Before the attack, Australia already hadsome of the strictest gun laws in the world, enacted following the 1996Port Arthur massacre.[15]Assault rifles,shotguns, and manysemiautomatic rifles were banned.[16] In spite of this, the number of firearms in Australia, and the number of people licensed to own them, had increased since the Port Arthur massacre. InNew South Wales, the state where the Bondi Beach shooting took place, there were 260,000 gun licences in 2025, up from 181,000 in 2001.[17][18]
Initial videos of the incident showed two men dressed in black firing on the crowd from a footbridge striding thecarpark to the north of the Bondi Pavilion,[19][20] reportedly with at least onebolt action rifle.[21] Around 50 gunshots were fired during the attack.[22] Emergency services were first called to the scene at 18:47(AEDT,UTC+11).[23]New South Wales Police released a statement at 18:57 confirming an incident was being responded to.[24]
Videos from the scene showed two men dressed in black shooting from a pedestrian bridge.[25]BBC Verify later authenticated a nearly continuous 11-minute video, filmed from approximately 50 metres (160 ft) away, that begins shortly after the incident begins and captures the first police officer stepping onto the pedestrian bridge as well as wounded participants at "Chanukah by the Sea" being treated.[1]
One of the shooters, while aiming down his sights and firing, was disarmed by an unarmed male witness.[26][27][28] After approaching from between two parked cars, he tackled the shooter from behind, seized his weapon and turned it on him.[29] The shooter retreated to a bridge where the other gunman was positioned. A police officer then arrived and, using a tree as cover, fired on the gunmen.[30] Both gunmen were hit by police gunfire, and another bystander went onto the bridge and kicked away a weapon from one of the gunmen: continued fire forced him to duck, and he was mistaken for an attacker by bystanders.[31]
One of the attackers was shot dead by police, with the other being apprehended and rushed to hospital in critical condition under police guard.[19][32][33] They had fired a total of 103 rounds.[34]
A 2019 photo of the footbridge from which the perpetrators primarily conducted their attack. The view is from the west; Archer Park is to the south.
A 2018 aerial view of Bondi Beach proper; Archer Park is in the center, with the footbridge over the car park to its north. The curving road is Campbell Parade.
Victims
The death toll from the attack was 16, with 14 having died at the scene (including one of the gunmen) and 2 in hospital.[35] The ages of the dead ranged from 10 to 87 years. Forty-three people were injured, including the other gunman. Of the injured, five are critically injured.[36][37][38]
TheIsraeli Foreign Ministry said that one Israeli was killed and another was injured.[39] French national andRockdale Ilinden FC player Dan Elkayam[40][41] andRandwick DRUFC manager Peter Meagher[42][43] were killed. Chabadrabbis Eli Schlanger[44] and Yaakov Levitan, along with Chabad community member Reuven Morrison, were killed,[45] and several other emissaries were wounded.[44] Alex Kleytman, aHolocaust survivor, was also killed while trying to save his wife.[46][38] Slovak citizen Marika Pogany was also among those killed in the attack.[47] The youngest fatality was a 10-year-old girl named Matilda.[48]
The police commissioner of New South Wales,Mal Lanyon, designated the shooting a terrorist incident.[53] ASIO stated that one of the offenders was known to them.[53] After the shooting, twoimprovised explosive devices were located in the suspects' vehicle, and a third nearby.[54] The bombs were safely removed by the police bomb squad.[32][55]
Suspects
CCTV footage of one of the perpetrators exiting their residence in Campsie the day of the shooting.
According to the New South Wales police commissioner,Mal Lanyon, the shooters were a father and son, aged 50 and 24.[36][56] According to theAustralian home affairs minister,Tony Burke, the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, later transferring to a partner visa in 2001 before obtaining a resident return visa; the son was an Australian-born citizen.[57]
The father, who was killed at the scene, was a member of a gun club and possessed at least six licensed firearms which police believe were used in the attack.[58][59] The son was known since 2019 to ASIO but had been deemed "not an immediate threat".[60] As a teenager, he followed radical preacher Wissam Haddad, who was found to have violated Australia's racial hatred laws in 2025, and regularly worshipped at Haddad'sBankstown prayer space, the Al Madina Dawah Centre; videos from 2019 show him proselytising and distributing pamphlets for the Street Dawah Movement. Weeks later, police arrested several associates of the movement, including Isaac El Matari, a self-declared Australian commander ofIslamic State (IS) and a friend of the son. El Matari is serving a seven year sentence for plotting an insurgency and attempting to acquire firearms; another associate, Radwan Dakkak, received 18 months for IS membership and distributing propaganda. Despite these ties, authorities concluded he was not a high risk member of the network.[61] Police stated that both gunmen had pledged allegiance to IS[60][62][63] and that twoIS flags were found in their car.[64][65]
Following a police raid on a property in Bonnyrigg, a man and a woman were taken into custody.[25] Police also raided aCampsie home where the pair were believed to have been staying prior to the attack.[36]The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the pair had told family members they were going on a fishing trip toJervis Bay.[36] Investigators were looking into a trip that the two suspects made to thePhilippines a month before the attack, to see whether they received military training there.[66][67]
Aftermath
Queensland police increased their security presence at places of worship for Jewish people.[68] Across Australia and New Zealand, Jewish events were cancelled due to the security risks from terror threats, after already having had to cancel many public events in recent years due to the high risk of attacks.[69][70][71]
On the day following the shooting, theNational Cabinet unanimously agreed to strengthen gun laws. Proposals brought forward during the meeting included restricting firearm ownership to Australian citizens only, accelerating the launch of a national firearms register, limiting the number of firearms a single person can own, and further restricting the types of weapons that are legal.[72]
In response to the attack, Victorian premierJacinta Allan increased funding for security services for Jewish spaces.[73] After aLifeblood request forO-negative blood donations, over 50,000 people volunteered to donate blood.[74]
Albanese vowed to advocate for stricter gun laws following the attack.[56] The Premier of New South Wales,Chris Minns, stated that "the reports and images coming out of Bondi tonight are deeply distressing" and encouraged people to follow the directions of police.[32] Additionally, he referred to the witness who had tackled one of the attackers as a "real-life hero" in a visit to his hospital room.[75] The minister for home affairs,Tony Burke, called the shooting an "appalling act of violence".[76] Australia's head of stateKing Charles III said that he andQueen Camilla were "appalled and saddened by the most dreadful antisemitic terrorist attack on Jewish people".[77]
The CEO of theAustralian Jewish Association, Robert Gregory, said that: "This is an attack on the Jewish community that deeply pains us as a community."[78][79] The president of theZionist Federation of Australia,Jeremy Leibler, said that "an attack on Jews celebrating their faith is an attack on Australia itself. It is an assault on our values, our social cohesion, and the basic right of people to gather without fear."[44] TheAustralian National Imams Council also condemned the shooting, stating that "this is a moment for all Australians, including theAustralian Muslim community, to stand together in unity, compassion, and solidarity, rejecting violence in all its forms and affirming our shared commitment to social harmony and the safety of all Australians".[76] The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network condemned the attack and stated that the perpetrators did not represent their movement or their values.[80]
In other areas of Sydney, Jewish community infrastructure such as synagogues and schools were closed on 15 December.[81]
International
The attack was widely condemned internationally. Press statements were disseminated by the New Zealand prime minister,Christopher Luxon,[82] and armed police in New Zealand were deployed on 15 December to guard Jewish sites across the country, including the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand andKadimah School.[83] Further press statements were disseminated by UK prime ministerKeir Starmer[77][84] and US presidentDonald Trump.[85] French presidentEmmanuel Macron expressed "deep sadness" at the death of a French citizen.[86][87]
Israel's prime minister,Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed theAlbanese government for "pouring fuel on this antisemitic fire" as a result of policies includingrecognition of Palestine that September.[84] Albanese later rejected the accusations.[88] Netanyahu also praised the bystander who disarmed one of the attackers, stating "We saw the action of a brave man… a brave Muslim, and I salute him for stopping one of the terrorists from killing innocent Jews".[89]
^abBuckley, Penry; Davies, Anne; Visser, Nick (14 December 2025)."Bondi beach mass shooting: 12 people killed after gunshots fired at Sydney park hosting Jewish festival".The Guardian. Retrieved14 December 2025.At least 12 people have died, including one alleged gunman, following a mass shooting at Bondi beach, during which dozens of gunshots were fired at a park hosting a Jewish festival [...] Video seen by Guardian Australia showed two men in black clothes crossing a bridge at Bondi beach and firing. Twelve shots could be heard.
^Kim, Victoria (14 December 2025)."Live Updates: At Least 10 Injured in Shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney".The New York Times. Retrieved14 December 2025.Robert Gregory, the CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, said members of the community told him the shooting targeted a Chabad event being held at the beach. "This is an attack on the Jewish community deeply that pains us as a community", he said.
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Media related to2025 Bondi Beach shooting at Wikimedia Commons
