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Ahmed al-Ahmed has been recovering well from gunshot wounds suffered while confronting the Bondi shooters and may soon leave hospital, Syrian community members say.
The 44-year-old has gone through three rounds of surgery in a Sydney hospital after suffering five gunshot wounds during a terrorist attack on a Hanukah event by Bondi beach.
Ahmed’s wounds had been cleaned and cleared of shrapnel and were closing and healing, said Tamer Kahil, a member of Sydney’s Syrian community who has visited Ahmed. He is an orthopaedic surgeon but is not involved in his treatment.
Ahmed would probably soon be able to be discharged as he continued to improve, Kahil said.
“He looks happier … He’s a humble person and he’s a shy person as well,” Kahil said.
Ahmed, a tobacco shop owner from Sydney’s south, had been getting coffee with his cousin in Bondi when Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed, allegedly opened fire, killing 15.
Mobile phone footage shows Ahmed creeping towards Sajid Akram behind cars before tackling him, pulling the rifle from his hands and pointing it at him, then laying the weapon against a tree. Subsequent gunshots left five bullets in Ahmed’s left arm and shoulder.
The media director for the Australians for Syria Association, Lubaba Alhmidi AlKahil, said Ahmed’s left arm was not expected to regain normal function for at least six months due to his injured nerves.
He was not likely to soon reopen his Sutherland shop, where hundreds of people have left notes and flowers paying tribute. Instead, he would rest and recover and spend time with family, AlKahil said.
“He needs to get rest, he needs to spend time with his family, he has been away from his wife and daughters for a long time,” she said.
Family members have watched over Ahmed as he has recovered and been visited by well-wishers and dignitaries.
“He said that a lot of people from the government, from different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnicities, visited him and congratulated him,” AlKahil said.
“He’s very happy, he feels very peaceful.”
Visitors have included the prime minister, the NSW premier, the Australian governor general, passing on personal thanks from King Charles and more recently David Ossip, president of NSW’s Jewish board of deputies.
Ossip praised Ahmed’s “unbelievable bravery” at Sunday’s vigil for the victims of the terror attack, attended by his father, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed, who embraced members of the Jewish community and received a standing ovation.
He and his wife, Malakeh Hasan al-Ahmed, have been visiting from Syria for the last three months and al-Ahmed’s former migration lawyer, Sam Issa, had called for them to be granted Australians citizenship so they did not have to return. The government was yet to accept that suggestion, Issa said on Tuesday.
The prime minister on Wednesday announced a new honours list for heroes of Bondi and AlKahil said she expected al-Ahmed’s efforts to be recognised.
Australians and sympathisers worldwide donated $2.5m to the shopkeeper via GoFundMe, to support his recovery. Presented with the novelty cheque, Ahmed asked: “I deserve it?”
AlKahil said the fame and recognition along with the injuries would change al-Ahmed’s life.
“Now he is a very famous person. He has a fortune. He needs to think a lot about what is next step in his life while they surround him with all love and care they can,” she said.
