Nearly 1 million dollars have been raised in donations Australia for 43-year-old Ahmed el Ahmed, a Muslim resident of Sydney, who emerged as a hero after the deadly attack at Bondi Beach. The migrant from Idlib, Syria was captured on video disarming the 50-year-old perpetrator and taking gunfire from his 24-year-old son.
Ahmed’s cousin told the Guardian that “he couldn’t bear to see people dying. It was a matter of conscience and he is very proud that he saved at least one life.”
The 43-year-old, father of two children and owner of a grocery store, is hospitalized with two bullet wounds to his shoulder, following his intervention on the evening of Sunday, December 14 at Bondi Beach.
Social media videos show the moment Ahmed approaches the gunman through the parking area on Campbell Parade, crouching behind parked cars to avoid detection. When he got within striking distance, he rushed the perpetrator and managed to wrestle away the weapon, saving lives.
Australia: “Tell them I died trying to save lives,” the 43-year-old told his cousin
Just seconds before moving toward the gunman, Ahmed had spoken to his cousin, Joey Alkanz, expressing fear that he might not make it and asking him to contact his family.
“He told me ‘I’m going to die, please look after my family and tell them I died trying to save lives,'” Alkanz said outside the hospital, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The two men were near the Hanukkah event venue, where they had been offered food just before the shooting erupted. As Alkanz said, they had stepped away to get coffee when within minutes the area turned into a battlefield.
American billionaire Bill Ackman offered $100,000, while President Donald Trump called al Ahmed a “very brave man” who saved many lives.
According to his parents, Al-Ahmed was having coffee with a friend in the area when he heard the gunshots. They said he would have done everything to protect anyone. “He doesn’t discriminate between nationalities. Especially here in Australia, there is no difference between citizens,” his father said.
Lubaba Alhmidi Al Kahil, media director of the Union of Australians for Syria, visited Ahmed el Ahmed in the hospital to give him a plate of food and a bouquet of flowers. She said the surgery was successful and that he is recovering, but still in pain.
“What he did truly makes him a superhero,” she said.
