More details are being revealed about the surviving suspected Bondi Beach shooter after 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah event.
Two terrorist gunmen opened fire at a crowd of more than 1,000 celebrating the Jewish festival in the Archer Park shortly before 7pm.
A ten-year-old girl and a British-born rabbi are among the dead, while dozens of people are in hospital after Naveed Akram, 24, and his dad, Sajid Akram, allegedly started shooting indiscriminately into the crowd.
A local fruit seller, Ahmed al Ahmed, managed to wrestle the weapon off him before the gunman was shot dead by police.
His son Naveed Akram was critically injured and apprehended by the police, and the 24-year-old remains in hospital.
Here is what we know about the surviving prime suspect.
Akram is from Bonnyrigg in southwest Sydney. Detectives searched properties in the neighbourhood and in the Campsie areas in the aftermath of the attack.
Reports of a black Isis flag draped over the attacker’s car ‘would form part of the investigation,’ the New South Wales state police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said.
There was no third person involved in the attack, he confirmed after reports that at least one more person was on the run.
Former classmates who knew Akram at Cabramatta High School said they were ‘absolutely shocked’ when they saw the younger man’s picture in the news following the mass shooting.
Akram is thought to have started at the school in west Sydney in Year 7 in 2014 before leaving to work as a bricklayer around Year 10 or 11, according to Daily Mail.
Steven Luong, a former classmate, who played basketball with Akram after school, told the outlet: ‘I could have never imagined in 100 years that this could be his doing.
‘He was a very nice person. He never did anything unusual.
‘He never even interrupted in class.’
The older gunman was part of a gun club, and he had a licence for six weapons, which were found to have been used in the attack.
Another classmate, who asked not to be named, said she is ‘very shocked,’ and described him as ‘one of the smart kids.’
She continued: ‘He was just normal. Nice. Quiet.
‘We were never friends, but spoke in passing. Same classes, same teachers, sat near each other. So crazy.’
What has Akram’s family said about the alleged shooter?
Verena Akram, Naveed’s mum, has spoken from her home in Bonnyrigg surrounded by police.
Ms Akram said her son had told the family he had gone to Jervis Bay with his dad to fish and swim.
She told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘He rings me up [on Sunday] and said, “Mum, I just went for a swim. I went scuba diving. We’re going… to eat now.”
‘And then this morning, “we’re going to stay home now because it’s very hot.”‘
Mr Akram was reportedly not able to identify her son from a photo from the scene.
She continued: ‘He doesn’t have a firearm. He doesn’t even go out. He doesn’t mix around with friends. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t go to bad places.
‘He goes to work, he comes home, he goes to exercise, and that’s it.’
She described her son as not particularly social at school and that he was working as a bricklayer until around two months ago when the firm became insolvent.
Akram is expected to live to face criminal charges, the police commissioner confirmed.
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