SYDNEY: Police charged alleged Bondi gunman Naveed Akram with terrorism, 15 counts of murder and a litany of other crimes on Wednesday after Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in decades.
“Police will allege in court the man engaged in conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and cause fear in the community,” New South Wales state police said.
“Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by Daesh, a listed terrorist organization in Australia,” they said in a statement, using another name for the Daesh group.
Authorities say Naveed and his father Sajid Akram opened fire on a Jewish festival at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more.
Among the victims were a 10-year-old girl, two Holocaust survivors and a married couple shot dead as they tried to thwart the attack.
