Australia plans tougher gun laws after police say father and son killed 15 at Bondi Beach

Sydney (Reuters) - Australia vowed stricter gun laws on Monday as it began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which police accused a father and son of killing 15 people at a Jewish celebration at Sydney's famed Bondi Beach.

 

The older gunman, aged 50, was killed at the scene, taking the tally of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son was in a critical condition in hospital, police told a press conference.

 

Police have not released the suspects' names but national broadcaster ABC and other media have identified them as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram. Two flags of militant group Islamic State were found in the gunmen's vehicle, ABC News reported, without citing a source.

 

The incident has raised questions about whether Australia's gun laws, among the toughest in the world, need an overhaul, with police saying the older suspect had held a firearms licence since 2015, along with six registered weapons.

 

For between 10 and 20 minutes on Sunday evening, the gunmen had fired on attendees at the Hanukkah event, gunning down men, women and children as terrified beachgoers fled.

The victims were aged between 10 and 87. Among them were a rabbi who was a father of five, a Holocaust survivor, a Slovak woman, and a 10-year-old girl, according to interviews, officials and local media reports. The 40 people taken to hospital after the attack included two police officers who were in a serious but stable condition, police said.

"What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters after laying flowers at Bondi Beach.

 

"The Jewish community are hurting today," he added. "Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out antisemitism. It is a scourge, and we will eradicate it together."

 

Mourners paid respects and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial at the Bondi pavilion draped in Israeli and Australian flags as police and private Jewish security guards patrolled.

 

Albanese said his cabinet had agreed to strengthen gun laws and work on a national firearms register to tackle aspects such as the number of weapons permitted by gun licences, and how long the latter are valid.

 

"People's circumstances can change," he told reporters before the cabinet met. "People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licences should not be in perpetuity."

 

Security officials said one of the gunmen was known to authorities but had not been deemed an immediate threat. "We are very much working through the background of both persons. At this stage, we know very little about them," New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters.

 

Home Minister Tony Burke said the father arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa, while his son is an Australian-born citizen.

Police gave no details of their firearms, but videos from the scene showed the men firing weapons that appeared to be a bolt-action rifle and a shotgun.

 

Albanese said measures being considered ranged from curbs on open-ended licences to limits on weapons held by a single individual and the types that are legal, including modifications, with permits restricted to Australian citizens.