Hero who wrestled gun from attacker named as Ahmed al Ahmed
A cousin of the Bondi hero who disarmed a shooter said the Sydney fruit shop owner is a devout Muslim who couldn’t stand to see any more killing and prayed to God for strength before he heroically ran at the gunman.
The civilian who bravely tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen has been identified as a 43-year-old Sydney fruit shop owner.
The Daily Telegraph can confirm the man is Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sutherland local and father of two, who intervened during the attack.
Mr al Ahmed tackled one of the alleged Bondi shooters before he was shot twice himself.
Seconds before charging at the shooter, Mr al Ahmed prayed, saying: “God give me the strength to stop these killings”, his cousin Mustafa said.
“Ahmed said that he was really upset to see so many people dying in front of him, he said he couldn’t take any more and he had to stop the killings,” Mustafa said.
“He said he just had to do something. He’s a very religious man, he’s Muslim, he doesn’t believe in killings, Muslims don’t.
“He said he couldn’t take any killings in front of his eyes, and that it was time to stop the killing. He prayed to God he said ‘give me strength’ and he ran at him from behind.”
“He said the strength from god gave him the power to act,” Mustafa added.
“He crept up behind him and put him in a headlock, he said after that he can’t really remember too much about what happened, he just had to get the weapon.
“Yes, he’s a brave man, but he’s never done anything like this before. Never.”
Another of Ahmed’s cousins, Jozay Alkanj, said he was a father of two with a wife and two young daughters.
Mr al Ahmed and his family had come to Australia from Idlib in Syria about 13 years ago and now runs a tobacconist shop.
“He’s got two shots in his shoulder, in his hand,” Mr Alkanj said.
“It was very bad, very scary - he’s a hero.
“He went to the guy and stole the gun from him…he was telling me I don’t wanna die, I love you, stay with me.”
Ahmed’s parents, who do not speak English, were overwhelmed with emotion while speaking to an Arabic-speaking reporter.
“God is great,” his father was heard to say in Arabic.
Mustafa said his cousin was today “in pain” waiting to undergo surgery for his bullet wounds at St George’s Hospital in Sutherland.
“He’s in pain, the doctors have deferred his operation until tomorrow,” he said.
The heroic footage seen around the world
Extraordinary video on social media shows the moment an Australian hero disarms one of the apparent shooters near a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach, potentially saving more lives.
WATCH: DONALD TRUMP PRAISES BONDI HERO
The video shows one man repeatedly discharging a large firearm before a heavy-set bystander sneaks up behind him and wrestles the firearm from his grip before pointing it at him.
The man in white then takes several steps back and points the weapon at the man who had been previously shooting towards the beach.
The man previously holding the gun then falls to the ground before staggering away.
The hero then take the gun and places is upright against a palm tree and throws something towards the man in black.
The alleged gunman then makes his way to a bridge, with what appears to be a second gunman.
The footage appeared to be filmed from the balcony of a building overlooking the beach.
“Oh my god,” says one of the men in the room with the person filming.
Gunshots can continue to be heard in the footage after the man wearing black was disarmed.
The people filming have French accents as they commentated on the footage.
The man in white took an extreme risk, with another shooter wearing black standing on an overpass nearby.
Soon after taking the weapon, the man in white hides behind a palm tree as a man in black on the bridge appears to shoot at him.
The footage was posted on Tik Tok by an account called Corruptive Services, which was approached for comment about the incident.
However, the account had not responded and the footage was unverified, however, it was posted in the hours after the attack on Sunday and was consistent with other clips of the event.
The footage was called “BONDI SHOOTING NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPE GREAT WORK SIR”.
Originally published as Hero who wrestled gun from attacker named as Ahmed al Ahmed
