The Rabbi from the Chabad – local Jewish community centre – was one of 12 people confirmed dead in the Bondi Beach shooting, and police have confirmed that at least 29 other people have been injured – including two police officers and a child
British-born Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s final Facebook post before being killed in a horror Bondi beach Facebook showed how excited he was for the Chanukah event.
Rabbi Schlanger, 41, was among the victims after at least two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish festival celebration at Bondi Beach, Sydney.
He revealed how excited he was to be attending the event in a Facebook post on Thursday. At the time, he wrote: “3 day to go!!!!!!!!!! BOOK BOOK BOOK for your free donut.”
The Rabbi from the Chabad – local Jewish community centre – was one of 12 people confirmed dead in the shooting. Police have confirmed that at least 29 other people have been injured – including two police officers and a child.
Relatives of the London-born Rabbi urged people to pay tribute to him but “spreading more light” in his name, they told Jewish News.
The father of five, and his wife Chayala, welcomed their youngest child, a baby boy, two months ago. His great-uncle, the late Reverend Leslie Olsberg, served as rabbi at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, where two congregants were murdered in a terror attack during Yom Kippur in October.
Police said officers were examining a number of suspicious items, including several improvised explosive devices found in one of the suspect’s cars.
“This attack was designed to target Sydney’s Jewish community,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said. He said it was declared a terrorist attack due to the event targeted and weapons used.
The violence erupted at the end of a hot summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, including hundreds who had gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival.
Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach centers around the world and sponsors public events during major Jewish holidays, identified one of the dead as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organizer of the event. Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details.
Police said emergency services were called to Campbell Parade in Bondi about 6:45 p.m. responding to reports of shots being fired. Video footage filmed by onlookers showed people in bathing suits running from the water as shots rang out. Separate footage appeared to show two men with long guns firing from a footbridge leading to the beach.
One dramatic clip broadcast on Australian television showed a man appearing to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground. Mr Minns called the unidentified man a “genuine hero.”
Lachlan Moran, 32, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press he was waiting for his family nearby when he heard shots. He dropped the beer he was carrying and ran.
“You heard a few pops, and I freaked out and ran away. … I started sprinting. I just had that intuition. I sprinted as quickly as I could,” Moran said. He said he heard shooting off and on for about five minutes.
“Everyone just dropped all their possessions and everything and were running and people were crying and it was just horrible,” Moran said.
Local resident Catherine Merchant said “it was the most perfect day and then this happened. Everyone was just running and there were bullets and there were so many of them and we were really scared,” she told Australia’s ABC News.
