Recently released court documents reveal a host of new details about the police investigation into the Bondi Beach shootings.
key points:
- Police say two gunmen who opened fire at Bondi Beach threw explosive devices into the crowd
- Four devices failed to shut down but were ‘viable’
- Police say son Navid A trained with his father in rural Australia
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologized to Australia’s Jewish community
- Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah were targeted in a terrorist attack, in which 15 people were killed.
Surviving suspect Naveed A had conducted “firearms training” with his father in rural Australia, according to Australian media reports citing police documents released by a Sydney court on Monday.
Police found “several relevant videos” on Navid A’s cell phone, allegedly showing the couple “adhering to religiously inspired violent extremism ideology”.
In one video, the two are seated in front of an Islamic State flag, with four rifles and ammunition next to them.
According to published documents, in the video the son is seen reading an excerpt from the Quran. Both then “provided statements regarding their motivation for the ‘Bondi attack,'” authorities said.
The father, Sajid A, 50, was shot dead by police during the attack, and the son was initially taken to hospital with serious gunshot wounds.
According to ABC, Naved A was transferred to a correctional facility on Monday. He is being tried for 59 crimes, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act.
Gunmen throw pipe bombs, tennis ball bombs at Hanukkah celebrations
The police statement also claimed that Navid A and his father threw four improvised explosive devices towards a crowd celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach on December 14, 2025.
Police said three pipe bombs filled with steel ball bearings failed to explode. However, initial police analysis found that the bombs were “viable”. A “tennis ball bomb” was also thrown.
Another homemade explosive device was found in the car in which the pair had traveled to Bondi to carry out the attack.
Australia’s NSW to push for stricter gun laws
The government of the Australian state of New South Wales, where the attack took place, on Monday introduced strict draft gun laws.
Sajid A, who was an Indian citizen and held an Australian permanent resident visa, was legally in possession of six rifles and a shotgun.
The new restrictions will include making Australian citizenship a condition to qualify for a firearms licence. They also reduced the legal limit for recreational shooters to four guns. According to the ABC, the draft law is likely to be swiftly passed through Parliament before Christmas.
In Australia, laws on gun ownership vary from state to state.
Australian Prime Minister booed at vigil
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese apologized to Australia’s Jewish community on Monday.
He said, “As Prime Minister, I feel the weight of responsibility for the atrocities that occurred while I was Prime Minister, and I am sorry for what the Jewish community and our country have experienced.”
The Prime Minister was heavily criticized at a prayer vigil for the victims of the Bondi attack on Sunday evening.
Albany faces pressure over his government’s perceived failure to curb anti-Semitism in Australia, which has increased dramatically following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 and Israel’s war in Gaza.
Australia, home to about 117,000 Jews, has seen several anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues, schools and businesses in the past year.
Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which emphasizes the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected perpetrators or victims and obliges us to avoid disclosing full names in such cases.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic