A 10-year-old girl is among the 16 dead. Forty-two others were hospitalized for their injuries.
Akram had been on a watchlist since 2019 after authorities believed that he had pledged his support to Islamic State. The Australian spy agency ASIO confirmed that while Akram was "known" to them, they did not believe him to be an "immediate" threat.
The assessment of the younger Akram in 2019 was "based on concerns about the people he associated with – as opposed to concerns about his own behaviour," The Telegraph reports. However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that there was no "indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence."
The Akram father and son duo drove to Bondi Beach on Sunday with rifles and explosives. The men also had an Islamic State flag in their car. Akram was killed by officers in a shootout but the team had already been shooting for 10 minutes before they were stopped.
Son Akram is in the hospital and is under a police guard. His family believed that he and his father were on a weekend scuba diving trip. The family home in Bonnyrigg was searched.
Akram came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa. In 2001, he transfered that to a partner visa and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that Akram has had a return visa the entire time. His son Naveed was born in Australia.
