NEED TO KNOW
- A 10-year-old girl has been identified as another victim of the mass shooting during a Hanukkah event at a beach in Australia on Dec. 14
- Matilda Poltavchenko was among the sixteen people who died, her family member confirmed on social media, writing, “I don’t know how we survive such grief”
- Other victims who died in the tragedy, who have been identified so far, include Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died protecting his wife, and Eli Schlanger, a rabbi and father of five
A 10-year-old girl has been identified as another victim of the terror attack that took place during a Hanukkah event at a beach in Australia this weekend.
Matilda Poltavchenko was among the sixteen people who died in the tragedy on Sunday, Dec. 14, when two gunmen — who police said were father and son — opened fire on the crowd in Archer Park at Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales.
In a social media post, Poltavchenko’s aunt announced the news of her death, writing, “A great tragedy has happened to my family,” News.Au.com reported.
She continued, per the outlet, “Yesterday, my beloved niece Matilda was killed during a terrorist attack in Bondi Beach. I don’t know how we survive such grief.”
According to The Australian, a GoFundMe page has been set up for the child’s mother by her language teacher, Irina Goodhew. “I knew her as a bright, joyful, and spirited child who brought light to everyone around her,” she wrote on the fundraising page, according to the outlet, adding: “Her young life was tragically taken. Her memory will live on in our hearts.”
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The Dec. 14 shooting took place during the Chanukah by the Sea beach festival. It was attended by many children and families to mark the start of the Jewish holiday.
The victims range in age from 10 to 87 years old, according to BBC News and Sky News. At least 40 people were also injured, New South Wales Health Minister Ryan Park told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
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Other victims who died in the tragedy, who have been identified so far, include Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died protecting his wife, and Eli Schlanger, a rabbi and father of five.
A local man, meanwhile, has been hailed as a hero in the wake of the attack for wrestling one of the shooters to the ground. In witness footage obtained by the Daily Mail, a male bystander — later identified as Ahmed al Ahmed by a family member, per 7 NEWS — can be seen wrestling the shooter to the ground, before grabbing the firearm and aiming it back at the gunmen.
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New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the two shooters were a father and son, ages 50 and 24, per BBC News and Sky News.
Lanyon said the older man died at the scene, and the 24-year-old — who has been identified as Naveed Akram from Sydney, according to ABC and Sky News — was hospitalized and is in critical condition.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the shooting tragedy “an act of pure evil” during a press conference.
“[It is] an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores in an iconic Australian location, Bondi Beach,” he said, per Sky News, adding that flags would be flown at half mast across the country.
“Yesterday was indeed a dark day in our nation’s history. But we as a nation are stronger than the cowards who did this,” Albanese continued. “Australia will never submit to division, violence or hatred, and we will come through this together. We refuse to let them divide us as a nation.”
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