Bondi Beach hero Ahmed Al Ahmed receives over $1 million in donations after confronting gunman in Australia shooting

Like many Australians walking around Bondi Beach on long, hot summer evenings, Ahmed al Ahmed just wanted to have a cup of coffee with a friend. Around him, a bloody massacre broke out as two Gunmen targeted Jews during Hanukkah festivities in a park near the shore.

Soon, al Ahmed was crawling, bent over, between two parked cars, before lunging directly toward one of the unsuspecting shooters. In a video viewed millions of times around the world, the 44-year-old father can be seen attacking one of the armed menremoving the man’s shotgun from his grip and turning it towards the attacker.

The story of the Syrian-Australian Muslim shopkeeper who ended one of the gunmen’s rampage on Sunday was echoed by a country desperate for solace after one of its darkest hours: the killing of 15 people as they celebrated their Jewish faith.

“At a time when we have seen evil perpetrated, he shines as an example of the strength of humanity,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday, leaving the Sydney hospital where al Ahmed is being treated for gunshot wounds. “We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country.”

A fundraising page set up by Australians who had never met al Ahmed had attracted donations from some 40,000 people by Tuesday evening, who gave A$2.3 million ($1.5 million). Among the supporters was billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman, who pledged AU$99,000.

Al Ahmed, married with two young daughters, will face a long battle, say those who have spoken to him since Sunday’s massacre. He was shot several times in the left arm, apparently by the second gunman in the attack as the man fired indiscriminately from a catwalk.

He has already undergone surgery and more operations are planned, said Lubaba alhmidi Alkahil, spokesperson for Australians for Syria, who visited al Ahmed in a hospital on Monday evening. The “calm and humble” man was conscious but frail and expected to recover for at least six months, Alkahil said.

Under Australia’s tax-funded national health system, Al Ahmed, who is a permanent legal resident of the country, is unlikely to face bills for his care.

In the days following the attack, a pile of floral tributes and thanks grew outside the small store Al Ahmed owns, opposite a train station in suburban Sydney. In the meantime, he received hospital visits from Australian leaders, apparently telling Chris Minns, the premier of the state of New South Wales, that he would take the same action again.

He has been hailed as a hero by world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and the governor-general of Australia, who is Britain’s King Charles’ representative in the country. Minns said Al Ahmed saved “countless” lives in what the prime minister called “the most incredible scene I have ever seen.”

Al Ahmed lived in the town of Nayrab in Syria’s Idlib region before arriving in Australia, his cousin Mohammad al Ahmed told the Associated Press. He left Syria in 2006 after finishing his studies, before mass protests in 2011 against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which were brutally suppressed and escalated into a nearly 14-year civil war.

Nayrab was heavily bombarded by Assad’s forces and most of the town’s houses were razed and reduced to rubble. Tuesday, it was Al Ahmed who was the talk of the town.

“Ahmed did a truly heroic job,” his cousin Mohammad al Ahmed told the Associated Press. “Without any hesitation, he tackled the terrorist and disarmed him just to save innocent people.”

Ahmed al Ahmed’s parents, who came to Sydney this year to reunite with their son, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that their son had served in the police and central security forces in Syria. Father Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed said his son’s “conscience and soul” had pushed him to act on Sunday.

“I feel pride and honor because my son is a hero of Australia,” the father said.

In the aftermath of the massacre, a country in the grip of one of the worst hate attacks ever committed on its soil – allegedly committed by an Australian resident who arrived from India in 1998 and his Australian-born son – sought hope in its grief.

Other stories of heroism also emerged.

They included the story of a married couple, Boris and Sofia Gurmanwho were both killed while trying to stop one of the shooters as he got out of his car and began the massacre, their family told Australian media.

“The people of Bondi lived honest, hardworking lives together and treated everyone they met with kindness, warmth and respect,” the family said in a statement. “Boris and Sofia were devoted to their family and to each other. They were the heart of our family and their absence has left an immeasurable void.”

Reuven Morrison62, was also killed while trying to stop the horror, according to his daughter, Sheina Gutnick. After Al Ahmed snatches a shooter’s gun, Morrison can be seen throwing objects at the shooter – before being shot dead by the second man.

“My dear father, Reuven Morrison was shot and killed because he was Jewish at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach, while he was protecting lives, while jumping, putting his own life in danger to save other members of the Jewish community,” Gutnick told CBS News earlier this week.

Acts of courage like these have been cited by many on social media and in the media as examples of what it should mean to be Australian.

“When he did what he did, he didn’t think at all about the past of the people he saved, about the people who are dying in the streets,” Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed said of his son. “It does not discriminate between one nationality and another, especially here in Australia, there is no difference between one citizen and another.”