Ten-year-old girl, Holocaust survivors among Bondi Beach dead
A young girl and Holocaust survivors were among 15 people allegedly shot and killed by a father and his son at a Jewish Hanukkah festival gathering on Australia's Bondi Beach.
The elder gunman, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was killed in a shootout with police.
His 24-year-old son, Naveed, is in hospital, under police guard and charged on multiple counts including terrorism and 15 murders.
The shooting victims, some killed while trying to protect others from the assailants in Sunday's shooting, were aged from 10 to 87.
The authorities have not named any, but these 13 people have been publicly identified so far:
- Young girl 'like sunshine' -
Ten-year-old Matilda died in hospital after the shooting, with her aunt recounting how the girl's younger sister witnessed the attack.
"She was with six-year-old sister Summer. It was on her eyes, and she saw everything," the girls' aunt Lina Chernykh told Channel Seven television.
"She is absolutely stressed and crying," she said of the younger sister.
"I hope people remember Matilda like a beautiful sweet child, beautiful like sunshine, like light in your life," the aunt said.
"My family will never be the same."
- Couple battled gunman -
Retired mechanic and Bondi local Boris Gurman and his wife, Sofia, tackled Sajid Akram and became the first victims in the shooting.
Dashcam footage shows Boris Gurman, 69, knocking Akram to the ground as he tries to rip away his long-barrelled gun.
The longtime Bondi resident gets hold of Akram's weapon, aiming it at the assailant, as Sofia Gurman, 61, dashes towards him in support.
Akram managed to get another gun, local media said, and the couple was shot and killed.
"While nothing can lessen the pain of losing Boris and Sofia, we feel an overwhelming sense of pride in their bravery and selflessness," their family said in a statement.
- Oldest victim -
Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman, 87, was the oldest person killed.
"We were standing and suddenly came the 'boom boom', and everybody fell down. At this moment, he was behind me, and at one moment, he decided to go close to me. He pushed his body up because he wanted to stay near me," his wife, Larisa, told The Australian.
Alex Kleytman was a native of Ukraine and a Holocaust survivor, according to a website of the Chabad movement, which represents a branch of Hasidic Jews and organised the Bondi event.
- 'Amazing' Holocaust survivor -
Another Holocaust survivor, Marika Pogany, was seated in the front row of the annual Hanukkah event when the gunmen opened fire, Chabad said.
Aged 82, she had lived in Australia for decades and was honoured in 2022 for her work delivering kosher meals on wheels, the group said.
Friends knew her as an "amazing person".
- Man 'put his own life at risk' -
Reuven Morrison, reportedly a 62-year-old businessman who migrated from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, has been praised for trying to distract the gunmen.
"From my sources and understanding, he had jumped up the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks at the terrorist," his daughter Sheina Gutnick told CBS News in Sydney.
"My dear father, Reuven Morrison, was shot dead for being Jewish at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach while protecting lives, while jumping up, putting his own life at risk to save his fellow Jewish community members."
- 'I came across his body' -
Tibor Weitzen, 78, was killed while protecting a friend at the event, which he had reportedly joined with his wife and grandchildren.
His grandson Mendy Amzalak told The Australian that he had rushed to the scene on the beach as a first responder.
"My wife called me, so I ran down to the beach with my defibrillator and the shooting was still going. I started treating people, and then I came across his body. He had been shielding a longtime friend of his wife."
- French amateur footballer -
French President Emmanuel Macron led tributes to Dan Elkayam, a budding amateur footballer and French citizen building a new life in Sydney.
"It is with profound sadness that I learned of the death of our compatriot Dan Elkayam in the anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Sydney," he wrote on social media.
Sydney's Rockdale Ilinden football club remembered Elkayam as an "extremely talented and popular figure amongst teammates".
- Ex-policeman, rugby fan -
Retired police detective sergeant and local rugby club member Peter Meagher was on a freelance photographic assignment at the Hanukkah festival.
"The tragic irony... that he spent so long in the dangerous front line as a Police Officer and was struck down in retirement while taking photos in his passion role is really hard to comprehend," Randwick Rugby said in a statement.
In a statement to Australian media, his family said they were "heartbroken" by his death.
- Dad known for kindness -
Rabbi Yaakov Levitan was a 39-year-old father of four renowned for his work for others, the Chabad movement said.
He founded an initiative helping charities to raise funds and was "known for his kindness and tireless work in assisting others".
The married man, who was laid to rest Wednesday, had four children aged six to 16, it said.
- Rabbi 'the very best of us' -
Local Jewish bodies named 41-year-old rabbi Eli Schlanger -- known as the "Bondi Rabbi" -- as one of the dead, mourning a community leader and father of five who helped organise the gathering.
Crowds gathered to pay their respects at his funeral on Wednesday.
"Anyone who knew him knew that he was the very best of us," said Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Schlanger served as a chaplain for the New South Wales correctional service and a major hospital, Chabad said.
- 'Very, very passionate' -
Anti-discrimination worker Edith Brutman was among those killed at the beach, according to her Jewish community service organisation, B'nai B'rith NSW, cited by the Sydney Morning Herald.
A fellow worker at B'nai B'rith, Ernie Friedlander, told the paper: "She was a very clever lady, and she was very, very passionate about dealing with prejudice and discrimination."
- 'Warm, generous' -
Described as a "warm, generous, and deeply sociable man", Boris Tetleroyd has been named by his family as one of the dead.
"Our beloved husband and father, Boris Tetleroyd, was killed during the attack at the Hanukkah gathering in Bondi. His son, Yakov Tetleroyd, was seriously injured and is currently recovering after multiple surgeries," they said in a statement to Australian media.
Tetleroyd's death has shaken his loved ones, the family said. "Still, we do not seek blame or division. We seek understanding, compassion, and the ability to move forward without having to hide who we are."
(N.Lambert--LPdF)
