{"id":90776,"date":"2025-12-15T06:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=90776"},"modified":"2025-12-16T02:30:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T07:30:49","slug":"attackers-on-sydney-chanukah-celebration-ided-as-father-and-son-sajid-and-naveed-akram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/attackers-on-sydney-chanukah-celebration-ided-as-father-and-son-sajid-and-naveed-akram\/","title":{"rendered":"Attackers on Sydney Chanukah celebration IDed as father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram"},"content":{"rendered":"

By PHILISSA CRAMER<\/p>\n

Australian authorities have identified the two gunmen who unleashed a deadly shooting attack on a Jewish event at Sydney\u2019s Bondi Beach as a father and son who are Pakistani nationals.<\/p>\n

Sajid Akram, 50, was killed on the scene. His son Naveed Akram, 24, was shot and is hospitalized in critical condition.<\/p>\n

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An Australian flag flies at half-mast at the scene of the shooting at Bondi Beach on Dec. 15, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Izhar Khan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

ABC News of Australia reported<\/a> that the country\u2019s intelligence service had investigated Naveed Akram several years ago because of his ties to an Islamic State cell in Sydney. The news agency reported that investigators now believe both men had pledged allegiance to the terrorist group and that police had found an Islamic State flag in their car along with explosive devices.<\/p>\n

The father and son had told family members that they were going on a fishing trip. Naveed Akram\u2019s mother, Verena, told the Sydney Morning Herald that she had a hard time believing that her son was involved in Australia\u2019s deadliest terrorist attack in decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have a firearm. He doesn\u2019t even go out. He doesn\u2019t mix around with friends. He doesn\u2019t drink, he doesn\u2019t smoke, he doesn\u2019t go to bad places,\u201d she told the newspaper. \u201cHe goes to work, he comes home, he goes to exercise, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sajid Akram had a gun license and owned firearms legally, the local police commissioner in New South Wales, Mal Lanyon, said at a press conference on Monday. He owned six firearms, including long guns used in hunting, that were found at the scene and at a home searched as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Australia tightened gun access after a 1996 mass shooting in Tasmania killed 35 people, but it did not outright ban private gun ownership. The changes enacted at the time had been credited with the country\u2019s total lack of mass shootings since. Now, officials say they are ready to tighten access again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s time that we have a change to the law in relation to the firearms legislation in New South Wales, but I\u2019m not ready to announce it today,\u201d New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said on Monday. \u201cYou can expect action soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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