Melbourne: A 34-year-old Indian-origin man who helped restrain one of the alleged shooters of the Bondi Beach attack in Australia said he wanted to help bring one of the assailants down and assist anyone who needed help.
Fifteen people were killed after a father-son duo launched a gun attack on the occasion of a Jewish festival being celebrated at the beach on December 14. Forty others, including three Indian students, were injured in the attack.
One of the attackers, Sydney resident Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead. His 24-year-old Australia-born son, Naveed Akram, was injured.
Amandeep Singh-Bola, born in New Zealand to Indian and Kiwi parents, helped tackle suspect Sajid Akram, SBS News reported.
Singh-Bola ran onto the bridge where the alleged shooter was firing at people, pinning him down with the help of a police officer.
“I jumped on top of [the shooter] and grabbed his arms. The police officer helped me and said not to let him go,” the report quoted him as saying.
“I wanted to help get one of [the alleged shooters] down, or just help anybody that needed help,” he said.
Singh-Bola, who initially dismissed the gunshots as fireworks, was eating a kebab and watching the sunset over the beach when the shooting occurred.
“It was almost like tunnel vision – just trying to hide behind things and not be seen, just trying to find out where he was. Once I saw where he was, nothing else really mattered,” the personal trainer said.
Singh-Bola said police had shot the alleged gunman, and while he lay on top of him, he could feel the shooter dying.
Asserting that he was not sick from the blood when he got up, Singh-Bola said, “I had just smashed back a kebab with spicy sauce on it, so I was actually sick from the run down.”
Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett has described the shooting as “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State”.
Sajid Akram has been identified as an Indian citizen hailing from Hyderabad, who migrated to Australia 27 years ago. The other suspect Naveed Akram is an Australian citizen.
