Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit-seller, became an overnight hero after he put his life at risk to tackle the Bondi beach gunman who went on a shooting rampage targeting crowd gathered for the first day of Hanukkah.
Ahmed, a Syrian-origin man who came to Australia in 2006, also got shot during the attack but managed to overpower the gunman, saving many lives.
The father of two young girls is currently recovering in a hospital in Sydney. “Ahmed al-Ahmed … took the gun off that perpetrator at great risk to himself and suffered serious injury as a result of that, and is currently going through operations today in hospital,” Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said at a press conference, hailing him as a hero.
In an interview with ABC, Ahmed’s parents said their son had earlier served in the police and always had the passion to defence people.
“My son is a hero. He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people,” his father told ABC.
His mother said that Ahmed took his chance when the shooter ran out of ammunition. “He saw they were dying, and people were losing their lives, and when that guy [the shooter] ran out of ammo, he took it from him, but he was hit. We pray that God saves him.”
His parents, who arrived in Australia just a few months ago, said that their son was having coffee with a friend in Bondi when the incident took place.
“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street,” his father said.
They added that Ahmed does not discriminate between one nationality and another. “Especially here in Australia, there’s no difference between one citizen and another.”
Mustafa al-Asaad, a cousin of Ahmed’s, said in an interview to Al Araby television network that he intervened as a “humanitarian act”.
“When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn’t bear to see people dying. It was a humanitarian act, more than anything else. It was a matter of conscience ... He’s very proud that he saved even one life.”
The video of Ahmed tackling and disarming a shooter during Sunday’s deadly attack at Sydney went viral on social media. In the video, Ahmed could be seen charging at the man dressed in black, who was holding a rifle. He quickly overpowers him and snatches his gun.
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