WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Like many Australians strolling Bondi Beach on long, warm summer evenings, Ahmed Ahmed just wanted a cup of coffee with a friend. Around him, a bloody massacre broke out as two gunmen targeted Jews in a park near the coast during Hanukkah celebrations.
Soon, Ahmed was hunched over and crawling between two parked cars before making a beeline for an unsuspecting gunman. In the video, which has been viewed millions of times around the world, the 44-year-old father can be seen fighting a gunman, wresting the shotgun from his hands and turning it towards the attacker.
The story of a Syrian-Australian Muslim shopkeeper who stopped a gunman’s rampage on Sunday was captured by a country desperately seeking solace after one of its darkest moments: 15 people killed while celebrating the Jewish faith.
Millions raised for Bundy heroes
“He became an example of the strength of humanity at a time when we were witnessing evil unfold,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday as he left a Sydney hospital where Al Ahmed was being treated for a gunshot wound. “We are a brave nation. Ahmed Ahmed represents the best of our country.”
A fundraising page set up by an Australian who had never met Ahmed attracted donations from about 40,000 people, who donated A$2.3 million ($1.5 million). One of the backers is billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who has pledged A$99,000.
Father-of-two faces long recovery process
People who spoke to Ahmed after Sunday’s massacre said Ahmed, who is married with two young daughters, faced a long struggle. He was shot multiple times in his left arm and was apparently the second gunman in the attack, who fired indiscriminately from a pedestrian bridge.
Lubaba alhmidi Alkahil, spokesperson for the Syrian Society of Australia, visited Ahmed in hospital on Monday evening and said he had undergone surgery and more were planned. Alcahir said the “quiet and unassuming” man was conscious but weak and would need at least six months to recover.
Both the Prime Minister and the President are fans
In the days after the attack, flowers and thank-you notes were piled outside the small tobacco shop Ahmed owns opposite a train station in suburban Sydney. Meanwhile, he was visited by Australian leaders in hospital, apparently telling New South Wales Premier Chris Mining he would do the same thing again.
He has been hailed as a hero by world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and the Governor-General of Australia, Britain’s King Charles’ representative in the country. Mings said Ahmed had saved “countless” lives and the prime minister called it “the most incredible scene I have ever seen”.
Ahmed used to be a policeman
Ahmed lived in the town of Narab in Syria’s Idlib region before arriving in Australia, his cousin Mohamed Ahmed told The Associated Press. He left Syria in 2006 after completing his studies, and in 2011 large-scale protests against the government of then-President Bashar al-Assad were brutally suppressed and turned into a nearly 14-year civil war.
Nayrab was heavily bombarded by Assad’s forces, and most of the town’s houses were flattened and reduced to rubble. Ahmed became the talk of the town on Tuesday.
“Ahmed did indeed do a heroic job,” his cousin Mohamed Ahmed told The Associated Press. “He did not hesitate to confront the terrorist and disarm him, just to save innocent people.”
Ahmed Ahmed’s parents, who came to Sydney this year to reunite with their son, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that their son had served in the Syrian police and central security forces. Father Mohammed Fattah Ahmed said his son’s “conscience and soul” compelled him to take action on Sunday.
“I’m proud and honored because my son is an Australian hero,” the father said.
Stories of heroism offer hope amid tragedy
They are searching for hope amid their grief after the mass killings – allegedly by an Australian resident who arrived from India in 1998 and his Australian-born son – were hit by one of the worst hate attacks ever. Stories of heroism began to emerge.
They include the story of Boris and Sofia Gurman, a married couple whose family told Australian news media they were both killed while trying to stop one of the gunmen from climbing out of a car and starting the massacre.
Reuven Morrison, 62, was also killed while trying to stop the horrific incident, according to his daughter Sheina Gutnick. After Ahmed grabbed the gun from one of the gunmen, the man Gutnick identified as Morrison threw an object at the gunman, who was then shot by a second man.
Many people on social media and in the news media cited acts of bravery like this as examples of what it means to be Australian.
“When he did what he did, he had no regard for the background of the people he was saving, the people who were dying in the streets,” Mohamed Fattah Ahmed said of his son. “He does not discriminate between one nationality and another, especially in Australia where there is no difference between one citizen and another.”
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Associated Press writers Abdelrahman Shaheen and Abdulmajeed Darweesh reported from Nayrab, Syria.
