SYDNEY: A former colleague of one of the Bondi Beach attackers told a foreign media outlet that Naveed Akram’s background is Indian.
In an interview with A Current Affair, former co-worker Lachie said he immediately identified Akram when he saw his photograph online.
While revealing about Akram’s personal life, the former colleague said: “Yeah, like his background is Indian and Italian… his mom’s Italian, his dad’s Indian.”
A father and son duo opened fire on a Jewish festival at Australia’s best-known beach on Sunday evening, killing 15 people, including a child, and wounding 42 more.
The colleague said he was scrolling through social media when he came across the image. “Shock, disbelief — proper shock,” he said, recalling his reaction. “I didn’t think that someone you could spend time with day in, day out on a job site could do something so cruel.”
He added that regardless of motive, the attack was unjustifiable. “No matter what the motives are or whatever is behind it, it’s just wrong. And for what?” he said.
The former colleague said he had worked with Akram intermittently for around five years in the construction sector. “Probably on and off for about five years as a bricky,” he said.
He explained that there was nothing in Akram’s behaviour that suggested he was capable of such violence. “You wouldn’t pick it. But yeah, that’s him,” he said.
Authorities have condemned the attack as an act of terrorism, though they have not named the two shooters — one killed at the scene, and the other now in hospital.
However, Australian public broadcaster ABC said the alleged assailant was Naveed Akram from the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg, quoting an anonymous official, and other local media reported that police had raided his home.
According to the Australian media reports, Naveed was apprehended at the shooting and taken to the hospital, where he remains under police guard in a critical but stable condition. His father Sajid, who was reported to have owned a fruit shop, died at the scene.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed Sajid arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998, which was converted to a partner visa in 2001, and that he has since held a resident return visa. Burke also said Sajid’s son, Naveed, is an Australian citizen born in 2001.
According to reports, the pair had told family they were going on a South Coast fishing trip, with Naveed’s mother, Verena, saying he had gone to Jervis Bay with his father for the weekend and last spoke to the family on Sunday morning.
‘Terrified’ Sydney man misidentified as Bondi shooter
A Sydney man said he had received death threats and was “terrified” to leave his home Monday after his photo was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting.
Photos of a beaming man in a green Pakistan cricket jersey pinged across social media.
Some of the posts were shared thousands of times, drawing vitriolic comments.
But the photo was taken from the Facebook profile of a different Naveed Akram, who pleaded Monday for people to stop the misinformation in a video published by the Pakistan Consulate of Sydney.
“Per media reports, one of the shooters’ name is Naveed Akram and my name is Naveed Akram as well,” he said in the video.
“That is not me. I have nothing to do with the incident or that person,” he said, condemning the “terrible” Bondi Beach shooting.
“I just want everyone’s help to help me stop this propaganda,” he said, asking for users to report accounts that misused his photo, which he had shared in a 2019 post.
‘Life-threatening’
The 30-year-old, who lives in a northwestern suburb of Sydney, told AFP he first heard around 9:30pm on Sunday that he had been falsely identified as the shooter.
“I could not even sleep last night,” Akram told AFP by phone, adding he deleted all the “terrible” messages he got.
“I’m terrified. I could not go outside, like it’s a life-threatening issue, so I don’t want to risk anything… my family is worried as well, so it´s quite a hard time for me.”
He asked the Pakistan Consulate to put out the video because relatives in the country’s Punjab province were getting phone calls as well.
“It was destroying my image, my family´s image,” he said.
“People started to call them. They were worried, and they have told the police over there.”
The Pakistan native moved to Australia in 2018 to attend Central Queensland University and later did a masters at Sydney´s Holmes Institute.
Today he runs a car rental business, and he said Australia is “the perfect country”.
“I love this country. I have never had any safety issues here, like everyone is so nice, the people are so nice here,” Akram said.
“It’s only this incident that has caused me this trauma.”
