'Gunshot after gunshot': parents recount Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting
“It’s hard to explain the trauma. We couldn’t move because the gunshots kept going. I looked out into the field and saw people injured, bleeding"
The Jewish community in Australia was shaken on Sunday when a terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, Sydney, left multiple people dead and many injured. Among the survivors are Wayne and Vanessa Miller, who shared their traumatic experience with i24NEWS The Rundown.
Wayne described the day before the attack as peaceful and joyful: “The event was going beautifully. There was music, hot dogs, and face painting. We took our girls to get their faces painted… then my daughter Capri, who’s four, wanted a balloon. I was waiting in line when I felt something hit my face and a big bang went off. I thought it was a firecracker gone wrong. Then Vanessa called: ‘Have you got Gigi?’ I didn’t know where she was. We were under a table, just lying there.”
He recalled the terrifying moments of not knowing where his three-year-old daughter, Gigi, was: “It’s hard to explain the trauma. We couldn’t move because the gunshots kept going. I looked out into the field and saw people injured, bleeding. One minute without your child feels like a whole day. I just wanted my little girl to be safe.”
Vanessa recounted the chaos from her perspective: “Moments before it happened, I even asked Wayne, ‘Are you sure it’s safe?’ We thought we were in Australia, that nothing would happen. Then shots rang out. I was screaming for Capri and Gigi, being pulled by people telling me to run. My baby… my baby… my baby.”
She added a frightening encounter with law enforcement: “A police officer had been shot in the head. I tried to grab his gun to help, but another officer jumped on me, saying, ‘You can’t, you’ll get shot.’ We had to stay low and wait.”
https://x.com/i/web/status/2000218630617760028
This post can't be displayed because social networks cookies have been deactivated. You can activate them by clicking .
Wayne described the moment he finally found Gigi: “I ran into the field and saw a lady lying on top of her, protecting her. She was a hero. I asked, ‘Is this your daughter?’ She was scared and covered in blood, but it wasn’t hers—it was from someone nearby. That lady saved my daughter.”
The Millers’ story highlights both the terror of the attack and the bravery of bystanders who helped protect the victims.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW AT THE TOP OF THE ARTICLE