One of the bystanders who tried to stop the attack originally came to Australia from the former USSR to escape anti-Semitic persecution.
While a Sydney shopowner is being hailed as a hero after disarming one of the gunmen shooting at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, a couple and another man who died after physically confronting the attackers are also being remembered for their heroic efforts to save those around them.
Reuven Morrison, 62, was shot dead after trying to stop the gunmen, his daughter Sheina Gutnick told US broadcaster CBS News in a report published on Monday.
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“He had jumped the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks. He was screaming at the terrorist and protecting his community,” she said. “If there is one way for him to go on this Earth, it would be fighting a terrorist.”
Morrison’s actions are visible in several videos posted on social media. After 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Muslim father-of-two, charged one of the gunmen from behind and disarmed him, a man is seen chasing the attacker and hurling something at him.
Morrison, who originally came to Australia from the former USSR to escape anti-Semitic persecution, was later shot and killed, according to Gutnick.
“[Australia] is where he was going to have a family, where he is going to live a life away from persecution,” she said. “And for many years, he did do that; he lived a wonderful, free life. Until Australia turned on him.”
A year prior, Morrison had been interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“We came here with the view that Australia is the safest country in the world and the Jews would not be faced with such anti-Semitism in the future, where we can bring up our kids in a safe environment,” he told the outlet in Decemb