Bondi Beach hero Reuven Morrison seen confronting alleged terrorist, daughter says no other way he’d be taken

The daughter of one of Sunday’s Bondi Beach terror attack victims says her father died a hero.

Reuven Morrison, a 62-year-old Soviet-born ultra-orthodox Jew, died trying to stop a gunman during the antisemitic attack that killed 15.

“He added so much light into the world. There was no human on Earth you could compare him to. If there was one way for him to go from this Earth, he would be fighting a terrorist. There was no other way he would have been taken from us,” she told CBS News.

The death toll from one of Australia’s worst mass shootings has reached 15 victims, with at least 40 more injured after two gunmen opened fire on a Chanukah celebration at the iconic location.

Sheina Gutnick said her father was “shot dead for being Jewish,” questioning whether Australia remains safe for Jewish people.

“From my sources and understanding, he had jumped up the second the shooting started. He managed to throw bricks at the terrorist,” she told CBS News the day after the attack.

He was captured on video after Ahmed al Ahmed wrestled away a gun, seen throwing a brick at an alleged gunman.

WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE PLAYER ABOVE: Warning graphic content

“I believe after Ahmed managed to get the gun off the terrorist, my father had then gone to try and unjam the gun, to try and attempt shooting. He was screaming at the terrorist,” Ms Gutnick said.

“My dear father, Reuven Morrison was shot dead for being Jewish at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach while protecting lives, while jumping up, putting his own life at risk to save his fellow Jewish community members.”

Ms Gutnick recalled learning of his death while leaving a Melbourne Hanukkah event: “As my family was exiting a Hanukkah event in Melbourne we heard news from a friend that there was a shooting happening in Sydney. I immediately felt the biggest pit in my stomach and tried calling my father who did not pick up the phone. I then called my mother and I heard screaming, shouting. She was screaming that there’s an active shooter.”

She described her mother’s frantic calls: “I called her back and she was yelling that he’s running, he’s running, and then that he has been shot. After a few more attempts of hanging up and calling back, my mother was yelling for medical assistance, screaming for an ambulance, screaming for help, asking for help ... she then advised that he’s getting oxygen and hung up the phone.”

Ms Gutnick hoped her hysterical mother was wrong when told: “and she was screaming that they had stopped working on him and that he had been covered by a sheet.”

Mr Morrison fled the Soviet Union to escape anti- Semitism for Australia five decades ago, but Ms Gutnick feels betrayed.

“He came to Australia because he thought that this would be safe. This is where he was going to have a family, where he is going to live a life away from persecution. And for many years, he did do that, he lived a wonderful, free life, until Australia turned on him,” she said.

“I feel betrayed by the Government. I feel the signs were coming for a long, long time. The warning bells were there, and the government sat doing nothing.”

She the slammed police response:“Australian police, lay on the ground in the grass covering their heads, untrained for this massacre, untrained for what’s to come, untrained for what the Jewish community has been telling the Australian government is inevitable.”

“Australia’s not a home for Jews anymore. It can’t be. If we are shot dead while celebrating our religious festival of lights, of pride, of celebrating who we are, and if we can’t do that, Australia is not a house for us anymore. We can’t be here.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to do whatever is necessary to stamp out anti-Semitism in the wake of the mass shooting.

One of the perpetrators, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, is dead and the other, his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, is in hospital. Both men were from Bonnyrigg in Sydney’s south-west.

The father had a firearms licence, was a member of a gun club and owned six legal weapons.

Mr Albanese took a plan for tougher gun laws to a National Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon, including limits on how many guns people can own and regular reviews of licences.

“People’s circumstances change. People can be radicalised over a period of time. Licenses should not be in perpetuity,” the Prime Minister said ahead of the meeting.

“The Government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws.

“Quite clearly, the Howard government’s gun laws have made an enormous difference in Australia … If we need to toughen these up, if there’s anything we can do, I’m certainly up for it, and I hope to get National Cabinet on board for that.”