A brave act as terror unfolds

Strangers Wayne and Jessica found themselves in the same nightmare scenario when bullets started flying on Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday. They couldn’t find their three-year-old child.

In the confusion, they each scanned the green frantically. People gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah screamed and fled. Others ran away. Some didn’t make it very far.

The next ten minutes or so were the longest of their lives.

Wayne’s body serves as a human shield for his eldest daughter, but his mind is elsewhere: his missing daughter Gigi.

“We had to keep waiting for the gunfire to stop. It felt like an eternity,” he told the BBC.

What he didn’t know was that Jessica’s eyes fell on a little girl in a rainbow dress. She was confused, scared, and lonely, calling for her mom and dad.

She couldn’t protect her own child, so she decided to protect this child. She covered Gigi’s body with her own and said “I got you” over and over again. They all felt it when a woman was shot and killed just one meter away.

When the air finally calmed down, Wayne was convinced that Gigi was dead.

“I searched among the blood and the bodies,” he said, growing increasingly emotional.

“What I saw — no one should have to see that.”

Finally, he caught a glimpse of a familiar colorful dress and spotted his daughter, dyed red—but still looming over Jessica. Her son would also soon be found safe and sound.

“She said she was just a mother and she was acting in a motherly way,” Wayne said.

“(But) she is a superhero. We will be grateful to her for the rest of our lives.”

This is one of the incredible stories of selflessness and courage that emerged from one of Australia’s darkest days.

Police declared it the worst terrorist attack in Australia’s history. Dozens of people were injured and 15 people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl, by two gunmen who police said were inspired by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

Without Ahmed Ahmed, undoubtedly many more people would have been harmed.

A Syrian-Australian shop owner was drinking coffee nearby when the massacre began. His father told BBC Arabic Ahmed “saw the victims, blood, women and children lying in the street and took action”.

Video of the moment he jumped out from the back of a car and grabbed a gun from an attacker immediately went viral. He was shot multiple times and could lose his arm.

Another man, Reuven Morrison, can also be seen in the video throwing objects at Ahmed after he disarmed the attacker.

Sheena Gutnik easily recognized her father in the video.

Ms Gutnick told BBC partner CBS News: “He is not a person who lies down. He is a person who runs towards danger.”

She said he jumped up after the shooting and threw a brick at one of the gunmen before being shot.

“He fought to protect the people he loved most.”

The first two victims of the attack, Boris Gurman and Sofia Gurman, were also caught on dashcam struggling with one of the men to grab a weapon. When they succeeded, he took another gun from the car he had just climbed out of and killed them.

The couple’s family said in a statement: “While nothing can ease the pain of losing Boris and Sofia, we are incredibly proud of their bravery and selflessness.”

“This sums up who Boris and Sofia are – they instinctively and selflessly try to help others.”

The list goes on.

Chaya, just 14 years old, was shot in the leg while protecting two young children from gunfire.

Jack Hibbert, a patrol officer just four months into the job, was shot in the head and shoulder, but his family said he continued helping festivalgoers until he became physically incapacitated. The 22-year-old survived, but the injury was life-changing.

During the attack, lifeguard Jackson Doolan was filmed sprinting from a nearby beach with vital medical supplies in hand. He didn’t even stop to put on his shoes.

Others from Bondi rushed into the fire from the beach, their red and yellow lifeguards acting as stretchers. One lifeguard even dove back into the surf to rescue swimmers who were panicking due to the shooting.

Student Levi Xu, 31, told the BBC he felt he couldn’t scream for help because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself or risk any potential saviors being targeted.

But lifeguard Rory Davey saw him and his friend struggling and dragged them back to shore.

“We stood up and wanted to thank him, but he had already returned to the sea to save other people,” Mr Xu said.

Thousands of Australians flocked to donate blood, smashing previous records.

Authorities say many off-duty first responders traveled from as far as two hours away to Bondi on Sunday simply because they knew there was a need.

As soon as paramedics heard about the attack, whether they were on duty or not, they rushed to the hospital and faced unspeakable trauma trying to save their lives.

“Normally on a Sunday night, there is staff available to man one operating room (at St. Vincent’s Hospital). There are eight operating rooms performing surgeries at the same time,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

State Premier Chris Minns was also quick to praise the heroics of ordinary Australians.

“This was a horrific, wanton and destructive act of violence. But there are still some amazing people in Australia and they showed their true colors last night,” he said the day after the attack.

Wayne said he would shudder without people like Jessica and Ahmed.

When he spoke to the BBC, he had just attended the funeral of the gunman’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda.

“I was sitting at the funeral and I was just thinking, tears welling up in my eyes… I could have been in the front. Thank God I was in the back. That could have been my little girl.”

“Without the bravery of (these) people, there could have been a lot more destruction… One person who can run comes in. One person who can worry about his own child takes care of another child.

“This is what the world needs more of.”

Additional reporting by Wang Fan.