{"id":256579,"date":"2025-12-29T18:19:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/256579\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T18:19:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T18:19:08","slug":"my-target-was-just-to-take-the-gun-says-wounded-bondi-beach-hero-ahmed-al-ahmed-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/256579\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My target was just to take the gun,\u2019 says wounded Bondi Beach hero Ahmed al-Ahmed \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi<\/a> gunmen before being shot five times, says he knows his bravery saved many lives but is sad for those who were killed in the attack.<\/p>\n

In an interview with CBS News, Mr Ahmed said he \u201cdidn\u2019t worry about anything\u201d except for the lives he could save as he disarmed Sajid Akram on December 14th. The act was caught on camera and shared around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy target was just to take the gun from him, and to stop him from killing a human being\u2019s life and not killing innocent people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I saved lots, but I feel sorry for the lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akram was shot dead by police during the attack on a Hanukkah event in Australia where 15 people were killed. His son, Naveed Akram, was wounded by police, and he was later charged with 59 offences.<\/p>\n

Footage shows an Ahmed al-Ahmed wrestling a firearm from an alleged gunman at Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach. Video: Reuters <\/p>\n

Footage from the attack shows Mr Ahmed leaping from behind a parked car to grapple with Sajid Akram, whose gun was knocked to the ground in the struggle. Mr Ahmed picked it up and pointed it at the gunman, who retreated to his son on a nearby footbridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI jumped in his back, hit him. I hold him with my right hand and start saying a word, you know, like to warn him, \u2018drop your gun, stop doing what you\u2019re doing\u2019,\u201d Mr Ahmed told CBS of his struggle with the gunman.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd emotionally, I\u2019m doing something, which is I feel something, a power in my body, my brain … I don\u2019t want to see people killed in front of me, I don\u2019t want to hear his gun, I don\u2019t want to see people screaming and begging, asking for help, and that\u2019s my soul asking me to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ahmed (44) was shot five times shortly after wrestling with Akram. He is recovering well after going through three rounds of surgery in a Sydney hospital, according to a member of the local Syrian-Australian community who visited him last week.<\/p>\n

He also told CBS: \u201cEverything in my heart, in my brain, everything, it\u2019s worked just to manage to save the people\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Ahmed, a tobacco shop owner from Sydney\u2019s south, had been getting coffee with his cousin when the shooting started.<\/p>\n

His actions have been widely praised, with the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, visiting him in hospital and filmed telling him: \u201cYour heart is strong, your courage is inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, the media director for the Australians for Syria Association, Lubaba Alhmidi AlKahil, said Mr Ahmed\u2019s left arm was not expected to regain normal function for at least six months due to his injured nerves.<\/p>\n

It was unlikely his Sutherland shop, where hundreds of people have left notes and flowers paying tribute, would reopen soon. Instead, he would rest and recover and spend time with family, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to get rest, he needs to spend time with his family, he has been away from his wife and daughters for a long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Family members have watched over Mr Ahmed as he has recovered and been visited by wellwishers and dignitaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said that a lot of people from the government, from different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnicities, visited him and congratulated him,\u201d Ms AlKahil said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very happy, he feels very peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visitors have also included the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns.<\/p>\n

A fundraiser for Mr Ahmed via GoFundMe has raised 2.5 million Australian dollars (\u20ac1.4 million). \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahmed al-Ahmed, who disarmed one of the Bondi gunmen before being shot five times, says he knows his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1128,9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-256579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115804239576039602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}