A quiet Sunday celebration turned into a bloodbath at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, leaving 15 people dead in a massacre allegedly orchestrated by a father and son armed with legally registered weapons.

The tragedy, which unfolded during the first night of Hanukkah, has sent shockwaves far beyond Australia’s shores. For Kenyans, who are all too familiar with the pain of public attacks, the brutality of the event is compounded by a chilling detail: the firearms used to devastate the crowd were not smuggled contraband, but licensed tools of the state.

A Family Accused

New South Wales (NSW) police have identified the suspects as 24-year-old Naveed Akram and his father, Sajid Akram, 50. While the Sydney Morning Herald was the first to name the elder Akram, authorities have since corroborated the identity of the pair believed to be responsible for the carnage.

The violence ended only after police intervention. Sajid Akram was shot dead by officers at the scene. His son, Naveed, was apprehended and rushed to a Sydney hospital with critical injuries. Authorities noted that while the son was previously known to security agencies, it was his father who held the keys to the arsenal.

• Casualties: 15 confirmed dead; dozens injured.
• Suspects: Sajid Akram (deceased), Naveed Akram (in custody).
• Timing: Sunday evening, during Hanukkah celebrations.

Licensed to Kill

In a revelation that will likely spark fierce debate on global gun control, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed that Sajid Akram held a valid firearms licence. Six weapons were registered to his name, all of which have since been recovered by investigators.

Three of these weapons—described as "long arms," including a rifle and a shotgun—were seized directly at the bloodstained scene in Bondi. The remaining firearms were discovered during a raid at a residence in Campsie, south-west Sydney. Another property in Bonnyrigg, where the men reportedly lived, was also swept by tactical teams on Sunday night.

This reliance on legal channels for weaponry stands in stark contrast to the security challenges often faced in Nairobi, where the focus is frequently on illicit small arms. The fact that a known individual (the son) and a licensed gun owner (the father) could allegedly conspire to commit such an atrocity exposes a terrifying blind spot in regulatory oversight.

As forensic teams comb through the evidence in Sydney, the world is left to mourn the victims of a holiday celebration turned into a tragedy. The investigation is now pivoting from containment to understanding how a licensed gun owner allegedly became a mass murderer.