Donegal reporter says friend 'ran for her life' as 16 killed in Sydney shootings

A Donegal journalist based in Sydney, Australia, says the mood in the city has turned to anger after a shooting incident that claimed the lives of at least 16 people.

Conor Breslin, formerly of the Donegal Democrat/DonegalLive, is from Donegal Town and has worked as a Digital Reporter for SkyNews.com.au, for the past six months.

At least 16 people, including one of two gunmen, were killed following a mass shooting at Bondi Beach, which began at 6:47pm local time on Sunday, 7:47am Irish time. Twenty-nine people have also been hospitalised, including two police officers who were shot, with 12 people said to be critical.

More than 1,000 people were at an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah at Archer Park, Bondi Beach. Officers made their way to the scene, having heard shots were being fired.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minnstold said two individuals fired on a "crowded group of families" at the park in a "cowardly act of terrifying violence".

Conor is based at Coogee, just a 10-minute drive from Bondi, and was off on Sunday. He and his friends had considered a night out at Bondi on Saturday - a place they commonly frequent and one that is incredibly busy with Irish at the height of the Australian summer - but decided to stay put.

“We just saw the videos starting to appear on Twitter (X) on Sunday evening,” Conor told DonegalLive from Sydney. “Then it was all over the television. We’ve friends who were there and live in the Bondi area and made contact right away.

“One girl we know, who is from Wexford, was there and initially thought the sound of shots was fireworks before she literally ran for her life and ended up hiding in an ice-cream parlour. Thankfully, she’s ok.”

Working on the Monday 5am shift, Conor describes the mood in the city as “grim” with just one topic of conversation.

“It was the only thing people were talking about and I spent the day working on different angles of the story and doing live updates,” Conor added. “There were still towels and bags on Bondi, as people just had to run and some of the cars, unfortunately, might not have an owner to pick them up. It’s grim.”

Sunday was the biggest shooting incident in Australia since 1996, when, at Port Arthur tourist precinct in south-east Tasmania, 35 people were killed and 23 were wounded by a single gunman.

“Something like what happened in Bondi hasn’t happened in Australia for almost 30 years and for the huge Irish community, this is not something they have experienced before,” Conor said. “The mood on Sunday in Sydney was shock, but since then it has been one of anger. There are a lot of people saying that gun laws need to be changed and that warnings had been givem.

“Many feel this attack on the Jewish community was an accident waiting to happen and there have been moves made to combat antisemitism, with some feeling a stronger stance needed to be taken.”

Australia has some of the world's strictest gun control laws, established under the National Firearms Agreement (NFA) of 1996, enacted after the Port Arthur massacre, which banned automatic and most semi-automatic firearms, required universal registration and licensing, and imposed strict storage rules.

A father and son have been identified as the perpetrators of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. Naveed Akram, 24, and his 50-year-old father opened fire. Police shot and killed the father at the scene, while the son was critically injured before being taken into custody.

Conor wrote for Sky News: “Police have described the shooting as a targeted antisemitic attack and said the death toll could have been far higher if not for the actions of a bystander who tackled one of the gunmen and disarmed him.”

Footage emerged on Sunday via social media channels of a man grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired towards civilians. Local outlet 7News identified him as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a fruit seller, and reported he had suffered two gunshot wounds.

“With Christmas coming, there is a fear for public safety in the city after Sunday,” Conor added. “Everyone is on edge.”