The father and son duo suspected of carrying out the massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney, in which 15 people were killed, have been identified by Australian media as Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24.
Public broadcaster ABC, as well as channels 9News and 7News — both affiliated with CNN — released the names of the two, citing sources, as well as the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Police in the Australian state of New South Wales declined to comment.
In another statement, a religious leader who taught Quran classes to Naveed Akram at Sydney’s Al Murad Institute told CNN who was able to identify the younger shooter in a video of the attack as the man he had taught.
Sheikh Adam Ismail said in a statement that Akram approached the center in 2019 to take Quran recitation and Arabic language classes. He attended classes for a year.
“I condemn this act of violence without any hesitation,” Ismail said in a video message. “What I find deeply ironic is that the very Quran he was learning to recite clearly states that taking an innocent life is like killing all of humanity. This makes it clear that what happened yesterday in Bondi is completely prohibited in Islam.”
“Not everyone who recites the Quran understands it or lives by its teachings, and unfortunately that appears to be the case here,” he said.
Ismail claimed to have recorded a video message to clarify his relationship with Naveed Akram following the release of a photograph of the two together at the Al Murad Institute in 2022.
Australian authorities have not yet formally released the names of the Akrams, but have provided details about the two suspects in several news conferences.
O, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police there, had immigrated to the country in 1998, Home Secretary Tony Burke said on Monday (15).
Also on Monday, searches were carried out at properties linked to the pair, including a holiday rental property in the suburb of Campsie, in the south-west of the city, where the couple are believed to have stayed before the attack.
Two firearms and several suitcases were seized from the property by police on Monday afternoon local time, according to the CNN9News.
The 24-year-old is currently hospitalized and will likely face criminal charges in connection with the shooting, police said.
He had already caught the attention of the SIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organization), which spent six months evaluating his links with other people under his surveillance in 2019.
“The assessment concluded that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or that he might be involved in violence,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a press conference on Monday.
Naveed’s father, Sajiv Akram, arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and later switched to a partner visa in 2001.
In the years that followed, he made just three trips abroad, returning on all of them on a resident visa, Burke said. Police have not yet officially released the names of the two and authorities have not confirmed Sajid Akram’s country of origin.
He had been carrying a gun for about 10 years, according to police, after the attacks.
“The father has had a firearms license since 2015. We are thoroughly investigating their backgrounds,” said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon. He added, however, that the police “know very little about them”.
“He met the eligibility criteria for a firearms license” and had a “recreational hunting license,” Lanyon said.
There are two types of hunting licenses, Lanyon explained: one that allows you to hunt on private property or as a member of a hunting club — or “shooting club” — which was the type of license the suspect had.
A property linked to the men, located in the southwest London suburb of Bonnyrigg, was also surrounded by police following the attack.
Residents of the region described CNN scenes of chaos and fear, with police officers invading their normally quiet street.
Renato Padilla, who has lived in Bonnyrigg for more than 25 years, said the street quickly filled with police vehicles as authorities launched an operation at a nearby house believed to be linked to the attack.
