(LONDON) — The Australian prime minister said he’s proposing tougher gun laws after 15 people were killed and more than 40 were hurt in a mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
Two gunmen — believed to be a father and son — opened fire on Sunday at an event marking the first night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, according to authorities.
The father, 54, was shot and killed by police and the son, 24, was critically hurt and hospitalized, officials said.
Those killed range in age from 10 to 87, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday the massacre would be remembered as a “dark day in Australia’s history.”
The prime minister encouraged everyone in Australia to put a candle in their windows on Monday evening to show “that light will indeed defeat darkness.”
The National Cabinet met on Monday and ordered police and prosecutors to come up with options for stricter gun laws, including: “Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register; Allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licencing that can be used in administrative licencing regimes; Limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual; Limiting open-ended firearms licencing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and A condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship,” according to the prime minister’s office.
Four guns and three improvised explosive devices were found at the crime scene and two more guns were found in searches at homes, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team said.
The father had a gun license since 2015 and six licensed firearms, officials said.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters the son is an Australian-born citizen and the father arrived in 1998 on a student visa.
Albanese said the son was investigated by authorities in 2019 for links to the Islamic State, but “there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.”
Albanese on Sunday called the attack “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism” and “an act of terrorism.”
Pope Leo spoke out on social media on Monday, writing, “Enough with this antisemitic violence! Let us eliminate hatred from our hearts.”
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
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