Australian authorities said Tuesday that the father and son who opened fire on families during a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach had loaded their vehicle with improvised explosive devices and homemade ISIS flags, raising fears that the massacre was part of a broader attack plan than initially believed.
At a press conference, investigators called the father and son gunmen, aged 24 and 50, “cowards” who hunted Jewish Australians “in broad daylight.” Fifteen people were killed and more than 20 injured in the shootings, which police are now formally describing as an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack.
New South Wales Police confirmed the younger attacker’s vehicle contained IEDs and two homemade ISIS flags. Evidence, according to authorities, points directly to extremist inspiration and a clear intention to carry out a larger, coordinated attack. Forensic teams are still conducting ballistic and chemical examinations on the items.
“This was a barbaric attack on Jewish Australians,” said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett. “They were hunted in broad daylight.”
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon stand behind NSW Prime Minister Chris Minns as he speaks during a press conference at the NSW Police Station, following a fatal shooting incident during a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, December 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Hollie Adams)
Authorities said they were still working to determine whether the devices were functional or intended for secondary purposes.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett, NSW Prime Minister Chris Minns, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Minister for Police and Counter Terrorism Yasmin Catley, attend a press conference during a visit to NSW Police Headquarters, following a fatal shooting during a Jewish holiday at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, December 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Hollie Adams)
New South Wales state police commissioner Mal Lanyon said the suspects traveled to the Philippines last month. Their reasons for the trip and where they went in the Philippines would be investigated by investigators, Lanyon said.
The region has long been home to ISIS-linked networks. Groups of Islamic separatist militants, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, have once expressed support for ISIS and have hosted small numbers of foreign militant fighters from Asia, the Middle East and Europe in the past.
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However, decades of military offensives have significantly weakened Abu Sayyaf and similar armed groups, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no evidence of foreign militants in the country’s south recently.
A woman kneels and prays at a floral memorial for the shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Monday, December 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
Officials said there is currently no evidence that additional attackers or enablers were involved in Sunday’s massacre, but officials warned that assessment could change as investigators review digital devices, travel records and thousands of seized documents.
Tuesday marked the first time officials confirmed their views on the suspects’ ideologies.
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There are more than 20 people, ranging in age from 10 to 87, who are still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre. Ten of them, including three who remain in a children’s hospital, are in critical condition.
Among the injured is Ahmed al Ahmed, a 42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner who was captured on video tackling and disarming an attacker before pointing the man’s gun at him and then putting it on the ground. He underwent surgery on Wednesday for gunshot wounds to his left shoulder and upper body.
People gather around a tribute for shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Monday, December 15, 2025, a day after the shooting. (Mark Baker/AP Photo)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who previously met Ahmed, called him “a true Australian hero”.
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“We are a courageous country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists are looking for. We will unite. We will embrace each other and we will get through this,” Albanese added.
NSW Premier Chris Minns and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a press conference at NSW Police headquarters following a fatal shooting during a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, December 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Hollie Adams)
The elderly gunman was shot dead on Tuesday while his son was also being treated at a hospital.
Albanians and the leaders of some Australian states have pledged to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a gunman killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have been rare since then.
Officials released more information as public questions and anger mounted on the third day after the attack over how the suspects were able to plan and carry it out and whether Australian Jews were adequately protected from rising anti-Semitism.
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The Albanians announced plans to further restrict access to weapons, in part because it emerged that the elderly suspect had legally amassed his stash of six weapons.
“The suspected killers, callous in the way they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ability of their victims,” Barrett said. “It appears that the alleged killers were only interested in a search for the death toll.”
