Bondi beach was a laid-back haven before a mass shooting horror unfolded

SYDNEY (AP) — It was a beautiful summer evening at Sydney's famous Bondi Beach, thronged on Sunday by thousands of people soaking up the lingering warmth or taking sunset dips in the sparkling sea. Nearby, a Hanukkah celebration attracted families of all faiths, drawn in by face painting for children, ice cream, an outdoor movie and a petting zoo.

Then mayhem erupted.

For minute after minute shots rang out as people ran screaming, pulling each other into buildings, under tables and down alleyways, their beach towels, picnic blankets and flip flops strewn behind them as they fled.

The violence horrified Australians not only because of its scale and the antisemitic extremism behind it, but also because it unfolded at a cultural and environmental landmark that has long represented the country's cheeky, friendly and relaxed way of life.

Bondi is Australia’s most famous beach. It's the backdrop of a long-running reality television series about local lifeguards called “Bondi Rescue.” It’s also popular on Christmas day with foreign backpackers who flock to celebrate on the sand.

The beach is well known for its election day fashion too. By tradition, some Australians visiting the Bondi polling place to vote arrive clad only in tight-fitting swim briefs known as Budgy Smugglers, with news photographers jostling to capture the most irreverent shots.

Sunday night began in that spirit, with children enjoying rides and bubble blowing at the event, called Chanukah by the Sea. Then two men, a father and son, began indiscriminately gunning down men, women and children.

Those killed were aged between 10 and 87. One was a Holocaust survivor, the Australian newspaper reported.

Rebecca, 33, who declined to give her surname because she feared reprisals, was with her husband and two children when gunshots erupted. In tears the morning after the attack, she described how she shielded her 5-year-old son with her body under a table.

“I was just praying to God, ‘Please, don’t let us die. Please just keep my son safe,’” she told The Associated Press.

A man lying inches from her was shot in the chest. Rebecca’s 65-year-old mother in law used a piece of cardboard to apply pressure to his wound but the man died.

“One lady was to my side, and she was an elderly woman who couldn’t get down on the floor and they just shot her,” Rebecca said.

The shots went on and on. In footage supplied to AP by a member of the public who filmed it from their nearby hotel room, gunfire can be heard for at least 7 minutes, totaling dozens of blasts.

The violence provoked terror at the beach, in part because most Australians don't come into close contact with guns.

One beachgoer, Eleanor, who declined to give her surname, told the AP that she was walking at Bondi when the shots began and ran, fully clothed, into the ocean. On Monday, she plucked her sunglasses from a pile of abandoned belongings that lined the beach.

Bondi is an affluent suburb close to downtown Sydney and part of the Waverley local government area, which is the center of Sydney’s Jewish life. A knife attack last year at the nearby Bondi Junction shopping mall was initially feared to be an antisemitic attack, but authorities ruled out any political motive.

In that episode, law enforcement shot dead Joel Cauchi, who had a history of mental illness, after he stabbed to death six people and wounded another 12 at the complex on a busy Saturday in April.

Mass shootings in Australia are rare. The death toll from Sunday’s massacre is the highest since a mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996, that made it all but impossible for Australians to obtain rapid-fire rifles.

The authorities said Monday that they had recovered six guns that were legally owned by one of the shooters, a 50-year-old man who was shot dead. His 24-year-old son was being treated at a hospital Monday.

The men haven’t been named by officials. But their motive appeared clear, Australia’s leaders said: a targeted attack on Australian Jews during joyful celebrations that marked the beginning of Hanukkah.

“It’s the Jewish community. We’re all family we’re all one," said Rebecca, who lives at Bondi with her family. "We’re such a strong, loving community.”

She felt abandoned by the authorities, who she said had “turned a blind eye” to rising antisemitism in Australia. What the attack says about the country and how Australia will be changed by it, was a central preoccupation for commentators and political leaders on Monday morning.

In the aftermath of the violence, however, Australians also hailed the bravery of those who ran into the fray to help. They included a fruit seller identified by local news outlets as Ahmed al Ahmed, who appeared to tackle and disarm one of the gunmen, before pointing the man's weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.

The famous surf lifeguards of Bondi Beach are trained to save struggling swimmers. On Sunday they ran toward the gunfire, barefoot and clutching first aid kits as they sought to help the victims, Australian news outlets reported.

On a Monday morning, the beach would usually be teeming with people — jogging, swimming, surfing and promenading with takeaway coffees. Under a gray sky and intermittent drizzle, this Monday was eerily quiet.

Ashen-faced locals walked around in a daze, led by their dogs. Abandoned blankets, chairs and coolers were strewn across the grassy slope overlooking the sea, where moviegoers had been watching an outdoor cinema film when the gunshots began.

“It’s really sad because Bondi is really (as) much about community and about people getting together," Heather Norland, who was walking back from dinner with her husband and children when they heard the gunshots, told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Janine Hall and her daughter on Monday laid flowers at a growing tribute spot overlooking the beach before heading down to the sand to swim.

“I hope it’s an aberration and not the start of a change,” she told the AP, referring to countries where mass shootings were common, such as the United States. “Everyone keep their heads and don’t fight hatred with more hatred, because that’s just a one-way ticket to nowhere, for everybody.”

Robert, who declined to give his last name, has lived in Bondi for 17 years.

“Australia is untouched by a lot of things,” he said Monday. “No one was expecting this.”

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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington and McGuirk from Melbourne.

A couple embrace a day after a shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Belongings sit piled up after a shooting the day prior at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

People walk along Sydney's Bondi Beach a day after a mass shooting Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Personal belongings are left on a grassy area in the early morning following a shooting Sunday at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A man looks at belongings stacked up following a shooting the day prior at Sydney's Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A crack in a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has eliminated the risk of a catastrophic explosion but it's still not safe enough for the remaining 16,000 residents living closest to the aerospace plant to go home, officials said Tuesday.

Crews were spraying water to keep cooling the tank that overheated last week, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. Most returned home after a crack formed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, relieving pressure inside.

The evacuation zone remained the same on Tuesday morning, said Orange County Fire Capt. Brian Yau.

Crews worked overnight to ensure two other nearby tanks were neutralized and would not be affected by the compromised tank, he said, adding that material from one of these two tanks was transferred to another that has a neutralizing agent.

“They are moving material over to ensure that all threats have been eliminated,” Yau said.

Those threats include the risk of a very small explosion and potential spill, officials said.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate — a highly flammable chemical used to make plastics — can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The tank at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant contains 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of the chemical.

The interior cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), the county's fire division chief Craig Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier. The company said its technical specialists and the county fire authority have removed insulation from the tank to help cool it.

Health officials sought to reassure people who are returning to homes near the plant.

“There was no contamination. There were no fumes,” Orange County Health Director Regina Chinsio-Kwong said at Monday's news conference. “There was not a leak. So it should be, you should feel comfortable going home even if you’re across the street from that new zone line.”

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will monitor the air for several months and the EPA will be checking sewer and storm drains for spills, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said.

Garden Grove Unified School District said last week it was shutting a dozen schools through what was supposed to be the last day of the school year on Wednesday but later said only three would remain closed Tuesday. It was unclear if they would reopen before the school year ends this week.

At a parking lot at a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, people sought refuge in an ad hoc shelter there or pitched tents outside. Other people gathered in the park to enjoy Memorial Day.

Kim Yen, a retiree who was still evacuated from her home two blocks from the plant, welcomed news that the worst was not expected.

“I am happy and many of us are happy,” she said Monday.

She said she's ready to go back but wants to be sure it’s safe first. She's also been worrying about the emergency workers, who she called “our heroes.”

As the tank heated up, the chemical converted from liquid to gas, ramping up the pressure and explosion risk, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination. Some of the methyl methacrylate may already have hardened into a stable plastic similar to plexiglass, reducing the danger, he said.

The tank could eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, Whelton said.

However, he said there is still a risk of an explosion while the chemical remains hot and reactive. Temperatures need to fall closer to 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 21.1 degrees C) before conditions are considered significantly safer, he said.

GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft. It employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries, according to the company website.

“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the company said.

GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

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This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to TJ McGovern, interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, not to division chief Craig Covey.

Willingham reported from Boston. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.

Two evacuees sit in their pickup truck at a gas station within the evacuation zone in Stanton, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An aerial view shows a police checkpoint enforcing a road closure at the evacuation zone boundary in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Jan De Jonge and fiancé Sher Stuckman set up a tent with their belonging and pet outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

People walk outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

People tend to their pets outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)