Several improvised explosive devices have been found in a car on Campbell Parade at Bondi Beach, Lanyon said.
“We have our rescue bomb disposal unit there,” he said.
“They will take the appropriate action.”
People in Bondi reported hearing up to 50 gunshots and unverified footage taken by a local showed a gunman, dressed in a dark top and white pants, repeatedly opening fire at the beach. He appeared to pause briefly to reload his rifle as people can be heard screaming.
Footage also showed a bystander wrestling a rifle off an alleged gunman in a moment of bravery that may have saved lives. One of the gunmen was shooting a rifle from a patch of grass next to the Campbell Parade car park when he was approached by the bystander.
A 30-year-old local, Harry Wilson, witnessed the shooting, saying he “saw at least 10 people on the ground and blood everywhere”.
A shooting victim, who suffered an injury to the leg, said he barricaded himself in the North Bondi surf club with many others. He said he heard dozens of “popping noises” as people jumped security fencing and ran for cover.
First responders and bystanders tend to victims at Bondi Beach.Credit: Janie Barrett
One man, who wanted to be known only as B, was at the beach when he heard dozens of gunshots ringing out and saw people were running and screaming. He ran to help, and saw two young children, aged around five or six, hiding under a car.
“They said, ‘my mum, my mum’,” he said.
He pulled their mother from beneath the car and realised she had been shot twice, in the back of the neck and in her shoulder.
“I had to apply pressure for about 20 minutes,” he said. “Big wounds. I had my fingers in the hole, I applied the pressure. Then paramedics took over. It was like war zone.”
Bystanders render assistance to a man at Bondi Beach on Sunday evening.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Another man, who wanted to be known only as Abdulla, had been driving down Campbell Parade when he saw two men shooting from the bridge to the beach. He drove into the car park.
“That’s when I saw the first [police] officer who was shot, I ran out and tried to help him,” he said. The shots were still ringing out, as he saw the other man helping the woman under the car.
A woman near a petting zoo at the beach shielded a five-year-old girl who had been separated from her parents.
The woman had been separated from her husband and daughter soon after the shooting started. “I was just making sure my husband and daughter were OK,” she said.
She said she saw a young boy with a gunshot wound to his leg and four bodies nearby. A man was shot dead next to her husband.
Paramedics rush a victim to an ambulance.Credit: Edwina Pickles
A distraught, black clad rabbi was hugged by another man and wept into the stranger’s arms. “I’m so sorry for your loss. What was her name?”
Behind them a body lay under a white sheet less than 50 meters from the sand, and the bridge where the shooters had opened fire. A man sat on a plastic chair, his feet touching the sheet. Appearing to keep the dead person company.
A few metres away another man was patched up for pellet wounds.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said his community was subjected to a horrific act of violence when they had gathered on the first night of Chanukah.
“This is a day of profound grief. Members of our community have been murdered. Others have been seriously injured. Families are shattered. A sacred moment of light has been turned into darkness,” he said.
“Let me be clear. An attack on Jews celebrating their faith is an attack on Australia itself. It is an assault on our values, our social cohesion, and the basic right of people to gather without fear.”
Members of the public help emergency services following the mass shooting at Bondi Beach.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin told Sky News the annual Hanukkah event at Bondi and Dover Heights was packed with families, and if it was a targeted attack on the Jewish community, then it was “our worst fears realised”.
Minns convened a late night crisis cabinet meeting to receive briefings and updates from key government agencies as the tragedy unfolds.
The meeting is coordinating a rapid response with key ministers and agencies to deal with the deadly event. Minns said the reports and images coming out of Bondi were deeply distressing.
“Our heart bleeds for the Jewish community tonight. I can only imagine the pain that they’re feeling right now to see their loved ones killed as they celebrate this ancient holiday. It’s a responsibility of all Australians to wrap their arms around Australia’s Jewish community,” Minns said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated the incident was a targeted attack.
“This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians, a day of joy, a celebration of faith,” he said.
“An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian, and every Australian tonight will be like me, devastated on this attack on our way of life,” he said tonight.
“There is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation, and let me be clear, we will eradicate it. Amidst this vile act of violence and hate will emerge a moment of national unity.
The United Nations’ secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, has expressed his horror at the events.
“I am horrified and condemn today’s heinous deadly attack on Jewish families gathered in Sydney to celebrate Hanukkah,” he said on his official X account.
“My heart is with the Jewish community worldwide on this first day of Hanukkah, a festival celebrating the miracle of peace and light vanquishing darkness.”
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