Bondi Beach hero’s heartwarming message after being given £1,200,000 cheque
The hero shop owner who disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen has been handed a cheque worth more than £1.2 million.
Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, has been hailed a hero of Australia after he crept up on and tackled one of the suspected shooters who unleashed terror at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday during the Jewish Hanukkah festivities.
The massacre, which has been declared a terror attack, left 15 innocent people dead. Even more lives would have been lost without the actions ofAhmed, officials said.
Today, recovering Ahmed was handed a cheque worth more than AU$2.5 million (£1.2 million) after tens of thousands of people flooded the fundraiser with donations.
He was visibly moved when TikTokker Zachary Dereniowski handed him the check, signed by ‘loving humans across the world.’
Ahmed asked ‘I deserve it?’ and thanked everyone and urged people to ‘stand with each other, all human beings.’
He continued: ‘And forget everything bad in the past, and save lives. When I saved the people, I did it from the heart.
‘Everyone was enjoying, celebrating with their kids. Everyone was happy, and they deserve to enjoy and it is their right. This country is the best country in the world, but we are not going to keep watching, enough is enough.’
He finished his message of resilience with ‘God protect Australia’ and patriotic cheer used at sporting events ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.’
The Syrian-born fruit shop seller has been recovering in hospital following surgery, where Australia’s PM, Anthony Albanese, visited his bedside to thank him.
The dad-of-two was riddled with bullets when he wrestled the weapon off one of the gunmen and pointed it back at him without firing the gun. Ahmed was then shot five times by the second assailant.
Other bystanders have also been praised for their bravery during the mass atrocity in the city’s famous beach.
Reuven Morrison, 62, was among the people killed on the beach, but before his death he managed to throw a brick at the attacker after he had been disarmed by Ahmed.
His daughter, Sheina Gutnick, told CBS News: ‘He managed to throw bricks, he was screaming … and protecting his community, he was shot dead.
‘If there was one way for him to go on this earth, it would be fighting a terrorist. There was no other way he would be taken from us. He went down fighting, protecting the people he loved most.’
Another man was filmed kicking away the alleged attacker’s rifle just moments after fire was opened at the innocent families.
Among the massacre victims was a ten-year-old girl, Matilda, a Holocaust-survivour Alex Kleytman and a British-born rabbi, Eli Schlanger, who was one of the first victims to be buried in Sydney yesterday.
Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 15 counts of murder and other offences in relation to the mass shooting.
The second suspected gunman, Akram’s dad, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police.
Akram was charged yesterday after waking up from a coma.
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