Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who disarmed one of the alleged assailants during a mass shooting at Bondi Beach over the weekend, received a check for $1.65 million on Friday after tens of thousands of people contributed through a donation website.
Footage from the worst mass shooting in Australia in over 30 years shows Ahmed hiding behind a parked car before running at one of the gunmen, wrestling away his firearm, knocking him to the ground, and holding him at gunpoint with enough restraint not to pull the trigger. Ahmed was wounded by apparent gunfire from the second perpetrator and is currently recovering in a hospital, having undergone surgery.
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When he was handed the oversized check at St. George Hospital by Zachery Dereniowski, a social media influencer and co-organiser of the GoFundMe page, Ahmed asked, “I deserve it?” to which Dereniowski responded: “Every penny.”
Read more: What We Know About the Victims of the Bondi Beach Attack
Ahmed’s message to his 43,000 donors was to “stand with each other, all human beings. And forget everything bad behind the back, and keep going to save life.”
Among those who donated was billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who promoted the fundraiser on his X account and contributed $66,500, or A$99,999.
“When I do, save the people, I do it from the heart, because it was a nice day, everyone enjoying, celebrating with their kids, woman, man, teenager, all this. Everyone was happy and they deserve to enjoy, and it’s their right,” Ahmed said from his hospital bed. “This country. Best country in the world. But we’re not going to stand and keep watching. Enough is enough. God protect Australia. Aussie. Aussie. Aussie,” he continued, pumping his fist in the air.
Ahmed, 43, who has two daughters and holds Australian citizenship, left his hometown of Syria’s Idlib province about 20 years ago to find work in Australia. His uncle, Mohammed al Ahmed, recognized him from footage of his nephew’s heroic act circulating online.
“We learned through social media. I called his father and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we’re proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him,” the uncle told Reuters.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visited Ahmed in the hospital to commend his bravery.
“Ahmed, you are an Australian hero. You put yourself at risk to save others, running towards danger on Bondi Beach and disarming a terrorist,” Albanese wrote on X with a video of his visit to Ahmed. “In the worst of times, we see the best of Australians. And that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday night. On behalf of every Australian, I say thank you.”
President Donald Trump also hailed Ahmed as a hero.
The shooting was carried out by a suspected father-son duo who allegedly opened fire at crowds celebrating Hanukkah. During the shooting, 15 people were killed. The 50-year-old father, Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police on a pedestrian bridge adjacent to Bondi Beach, while his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, was critically wounded and taken to a hospital.
Among those killed were a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, who was there with her family and friends, two rabbis, and an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor.