Father and Son Killed 15 People on Beach, Police Say

Australian police said Monday that the 15 people killed in a mass shooting during a Hanukkah event on Sydney's Bondi Beach ranged in age from 10 to 87. At least 40 people were injured, most of whom remain hospitalized. "It was just carnage," said a photographer who was shot at while capturing the Chanukah by the Sea gathering Sunday of hundreds of people, the New York Times reports. The victims of the attack, which police said was carried out by a father and son, included a Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife from the gunfire.

"This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, adding, "An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian." The gunmen fired on a "group of families," New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said.

• The investigation: Officials identified the attackers as a 50-year-old man and his 24-year-old son. The father was killed by police at the scene, and the son was hospitalized, per the Washington Post. Police said they located a vehicle linked to the older man that held what they described as "several improvised explosive devices." Officials called the shooting an act of terrorism with the goal of killing Jewish people, per NBC News.

• Those lost: A 10-year-old girl was killed, as was the Chabad rabbi who helped organize the Hanukkah event. So was a businessman originally from the Soviet Union who "discovered his Jewish identity in Sydney," per the Times.
• In the US: President Trump praised the bystander who tackled one of the gunmen and took his weapon. "A very, very brave person," Trump said, who "saved a lot of lives." Cities including New York, Miami, and Los Angeles said Sunday they were increasing police patrols near synagogues.

• Holocaust to Bondi: Larisa Kleytman, also a Holocaust survivor, said she heard loud booms, then saw her husband, Alex, fall to the ground. "He came on Bondi Beach to celebrate Hanukkah, for us it was always a very, very good celebration, for many, many years," she said. Her husband had survived the Holocaust with his mother and younger brother in Siberia, per the Australian. The couple eventually immigrated to Australia from Ukraine. They were married for almost 60 years, and she stayed with him after his death. "His body is still there and I am sitting there and don't know what I have to do," she said.