Faces of the misplaced: Victims of the Bondi Beach assault start to be recognized – together with 10-year-old lady
The first known victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack have been identified including a 10-year-old girl, two rabbis, a Holocaust survivor, a beloved father and a young French citizen.
The deadly attack at Australia’s most iconic tourist destination unfolded on Sunday afternoon as hundreds gathered to attend the Chanukah by the Sea event, making the first day of Hanukkah.
Two heavily armed men, allegedly Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, 50, stood on a pedestrian footbridge and opened fire with military-grade weapons into the crowds of locals, holidaymakers and families.
So far 16 people have died, including alleged gunman Sajid Akram, while a further 42 were taken to hospital in various conditions.
Matlida, 10
Matilda died on Sunday night after she was shot while at the Chanukah by the Sea event.
In an emotional post shared to social media, her aunt Lina confirmed her niece had been killed.
‘A great tragedy has happened to my family. Yesterday my beloved niece Matilda was killed during a terrorist attack in Bondi beach,’ she wrote.
Matilda, 10, died at Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick overnight after she was fatally wounded during the Bondi Beach terror attack
Matilda has been remembered as a ‘bright, joyful, and spirited child who brought light to everyone around her’
‘I don’t know how we survive such grief.’
In a GoFundMe, set up by Matilda’s language teacher Irina Goodhew, the little girl was remembered as a ‘bright, joyful, and spirited child’.
‘I was Mailda’s language teacher, and I knew her as a bright, joyful, and spirited child who brought light to everyone around her,’ Ms Goodhew wrote.
‘Yesterday, while celebrating Hanukkah, her young life was tragically taken. Her memory will live on in our hearts.’
The GoFundMe has raised more than $13,800 as of 12pm on Monday, with the funds going to Matilda’s mother, Valentina Poltavchenk.
‘All donations will be transferred directly to her to support the family during this incredibly difficult time. Donations are made in loving memory of Mailda,’ Ms Goodhew wrote.
Tibor Weitzen
Beloved father and husband Tibor Weitzen has been identified as one of the victims after he was fatally wounded while shielding his wife from the gunfire – who survived the attack.
‘He died last night from a gunshot, then a fall as he went to protect his wife,’ Mr Weitzen’s son, who works for the ABC as a sound engineer, told Daily Mail on Monday.
Beloved father Tibor Weitzen (left)has been identified as one of the 15 victims of the Bondi Beach terror attack. He was shielding his wife (right), who survived, when he was fatally wounded
Rabbi Eli Schlanger (pictured) was one of the organisers for the Chanukah by the Sea event allegedly targeted by the gunmen at Bondi Beach on Sunday
Rabbi Eli Schlanger was confirmed as one of the victims in a heartbreaking post shared to social media by this first cousin Rabbi Zalman Lewis.
In a heartfelt post, Rabbi Lewis wrote: ‘My dear cousin, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was murdered in today’s terrorist attack in Sydney.’
‘He leaves behind his wife, young children, as well as my uncle and aunt, and his siblings. He was truly an incredible guy.’
Rabbi Schlanger was the head of the Chabad mission in Bondi where he had served the community for nearly two decades.
The British-born father-of-five was one of the organisers for the Chanukah by the Sea event allegedly targeted by the gunmen.
Rabbi Yakkov Levitan has also been identified as another victim of the mass shooting.
Rabbi Levitan served as a secretary of the Sydney Beth Din and worked at the BINA Centre, according to Chabad – a global organisation based in Brooklyn dedicated to sharing the Jewish faith and traditions around the world.
While at the event, Rabbi Levitan was distributing tefillin – two small, black leather boxes containing Torah scrolls that are worn by male adult Jews committed to performing the Jewish rite.
Rabbi Yakkov Levitan (pictured) was also killed in the mass shooting
Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman was also killed while protecting his wife of almost six decades from the gunfire.
His wife Larisa Kleytman told the Daily Mail her husband was shielding her from the bullets when he was fatally shot.
‘I think he was shot because he raised himself up to protect me, in the back of the head,’ she said.
Married for 57 years, the pair, who are also beloved grandparents, travelled from Matraville, a suburb of Sydney, to celebrate Hanukkah with other Jewish people.
Reuven Morrison, who served as an assistant at Bondi’s Wellington Street synagogue, put himself in harm’s way after meeting his friend Vladimir at the Chanukah event.
An emotional Vladimir said he would have been caught up in the gunfire if he hadn’t needed to find parking.
‘I saw everything and now my best friend is dead. He died in front of me,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Vladimir was returning from the Chanukah celebration to sort out his car when the shooting began.
Larisa Kleytman (pictured) said her husband was shot dead while protecting her
Alex and Larisa Kleytman (pictured) had been married for almost six decades
‘I was leaving. I asked Reuven about what time to turn on the Chanukah lights and then I was walking away,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘I’d walked about 50 metres when I heard the shots and I turned around and there was a Chinese lady and her child and I said “get down!” and maybe that’s what saved me too.
‘People started running and I looked up and saw the guy shooting from the bridge above towards the Chanukah area.
‘Then there was one detective over the other side who started firing at the shooter on the ground.
‘There was more firing and then Reuven got hit. He was trying to get people to get down out of the way and then maybe disarm the shooter on the ground, he was walking towards him to fight him.
‘But then he was shot – hit in the kidneys, I think. I was there when he died.’
Pictured: Reuven Morrison, who died while trying to save people during the terror attack in Bondi on Sunday
French Jewish national Dan Elkayam, 27, (pictured) died in the terror attack
French Jewish man Dan Elkayam was also among the 15 people killed during the mass shooting.
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed the young man’s death on X on Monday.
He wrote that Paris feels ‘immense sadness’ at the news, and is mourning ‘with his family and loved ones, with the Jewish community and the bereaved Australian people’.
The 27-year-old had moved to Australia to work as an engineer about a year ago, the Le Parisien newspaper reported.
