It took a mere eight minutes for a father and son to emerge from their car on to Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, and carry out one of the worst mass shootings the country has ever seen.
Sky News’ Data and Forensics team has analysed footage taken from different angles by various members of the public to synchronise it and come up with a precise timeline of how the terror attack on a Jewish gathering on Sunday unfolded.
A harrowing clip from the scene of the attack which was shared on social media and verified by Sky News shows people lying on the ground as about 35 gunshots ring out.
Follow the latest updates on the Bondi Beach terror attack
A baby cries and people are heard screaming “stay down” and “get on the ground” during the nearly three-minute clip.
The number of those killed in the attack has risen to 15, with one gunman later shot dead. Twenty-six people remain in hospital, according to New South Wales’s health service.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened during the attack, from the moment the attackers open fire to when one gunman is shot dead by the police and the other apprehended.
18:42:27
This is the first footage we have of the gunmen, about two minutes after the attacked started.
Footage shows the silver Hyundai Elantra belonging to the men. An eyewitness told 9News Australia one of the men got out of the back left door and started firing straight away.
The suspects – 50-year-old Sajid Akram and his 24-year-old son, Naveed – started shooting people then moved on to a footbridge that leads over a car park to the beach.
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18:42:46
A police utility van with its lights and sounds on passes by. These are not armed units – it’s an evidence section vehicle from the forensics department.
18:42:47
The attackers leave a gun on the bridge.
18:43:02
The older man walks off the bridge and heads towards the Hanukkah event attended by more than 1,000 people on the popular beach.
18:45:07
The 50-year-old is seen in the field right next to the event. He reloads his gun.
18:45:18
Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner hailed a “hero” after bravely tackling one of the attackers, disarms the elder man of his first gun. This is around 40m away from the bridge.
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18:46:04
The elder man returns to the bridge.
18:46:15
He picks up the third weapon.
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18:47:00
Police start firing from west of the bridge, the opposite direction to where the Hanukkah event is taking place. The man gets shot and appears to be dead.
18:47:15
A police officer fires at the younger gunman on the bridge.
18:48:13
The man gets hit.
18:48:16
He then gets hit again and goes down. He remains in critical condition.
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‘106 gunshots’
Four firearms were found at the scene, three on Sunday and another on Monday, police said.
Forensic audio expert Professor Rob Maher analysed the shooting and told Sky News he counted “106 audible gunshots”.
But he added: “Some overlap and possible echoes, but that appears to be the mixture of the close shots in the video and more distant shots, presumably law enforcement.
“Not all of the audible shots correspond to visible shooting actions by the individuals on the bridge, so I would assume there were shots taking place out of the video scene.”
Firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson told Sky News the younger attacker was firing a Beretta BRX-1 “straight-pull” hunting rifle, while the older man was using a Stoeger M3000 12 gauge semi-automatic shotgun.
Mr Ferguson added that the firearm the older man picked up after being stripped of his Stoeger by Mr Ahmed is a similar shotgun to the one he had been using.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
