Bundy gunman allegedly dropped ‘tennis bomb’, new documents say

The alleged gunman who carried out a deadly attack on a Bondi Beach Jewish festival last week dropped four undetonated explosives at the start of the attack, including a “tennis bomb”, according to newly released documents.

Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with dozens of crimes, including 15 counts of murder in the Dec. 14 attack at Hanukkah celebrations. Akram, who was shot dead by police during the attack, was discharged from hospital on Monday and transferred to prison.

The second accused gunman, his father Sajid Akram, was shot dead.

Police documents show the pair recorded a video manifesto in October in which they sat in front of an Islamic State group flag.

Police said the Akrams “carefully planned the terrorist attack for months.” Videos found on Navid’s phone suggested the pair were motivated by “violent extremist ideology” linked to the Islamic State group.

It included a video of the pair sitting in front of an Islamic State flag detailing their motivations for the Bundy attack and denouncing “the actions of ‘Zionists,'” police said. Police said Navid also appeared to recite a passage from the Koran in Arabic in the video.

Another video allegedly shows the pair conducting firearms training in what police believe is rural New South Wales in October. “Throughout the video, the defendant and his father can be seen firing guns and moving in a tactical manner,” police said.

A temporary restraining order was issued in a fact sheet last week to protect the identities of survivors of the attack. The order was quashed on Monday after the media company applied to the New South Wales District Court, although the names of most survivors were withheld.

Police said CCTV recorded at Bondi Beach two days before the attack also showed the Akrams driving to the area and conducting reconnaissance.

“The defendant and his father, Akram, were seen exiting their vehicle and walking along a pedestrian bridge, the same location where they emerged two days later and opened fire on members of the public,” police wrote.

Police said CCTV also captured the pair leaving a rental house in the Sydney suburb of Campsie hours before the attack, “carrying long and large items wrapped in blankets”.

The items, which were placed in a car, included three firearms, homemade improvised explosive devices including a “tennis ball bomb” and two Islamic State flags, police said.

Police said they later drove to Bondi, where they parked the car and hung the flags on the inside of the front and rear windows. Police said they took out guns and homemade bombs from the car and walked to the footbridge to carry out the attack.

Police said they threw three homemade pipe bombs and tennis ball bombs as they approached the bridge, but they did not explode despite being assessed as “viable”. Police previously said a fifth explosive device was later found in their car.

Naveed Akram, who was shot in the abdomen and seriously injured by police, did not attend Monday’s court appearance.