Holocaust Survivor Killed While Shielding Wife During Bondi Massacre That Left 16 Dead

A 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled Europe decades ago to start a new life in Australia has been identified as one of the murdered victims of the Bondi Beach shooting that has left 16 dead – including one child – and 42 people hospitalized.

Alex Kleytman, a Ukrainian-Australian citizen and retired civil engineer, was shot dead while trying to protect his wife, Larisa, when two alleged gunmen opened fire on crowds celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi on Sunday evening. The couple had traveled from Matraville to attend the festival, advertised as a family-friendly event by the sea.

Larisa Kleytman told the Daily Mail that her husband was killed as he moved to shield her.

“I think he was shot because he raised himself up to protect me, in the back of the head,” she said.

The two had been married for 50 years and shared 2 children and 11 grandchildren.

She detailed the moment that the gunmen opened fire in an interview with The Australian, telling the newspaper that people began to collapse around them as shots rang out: “At this moment [Alex] was behind me and at one moment he decided to go close to me. He pushed his body up because he wanted to stay near me. His body is still there and I am sitting there and don’t know what I have to do.”

The attack has left 16 people dead, including a 10-year-old girl, and sent shockwaves through Australia’s Jewish community in what is the most devastating mass shooting in the country in over 30 years.

Police say the alleged attackers were a father and son. The father, Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police. His son, Naveed Akram, 24, was subdued and has been hospitalized. Authorities confirmed the elder Akram was a licensed firearms holder with six weapons.

“What we saw yesterday was an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sunday.