Alleged Bondi Beach gunman charged with 15 counts of murder, police say
An Israeli flag and flowers are laid outside Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach as people gather to mourn in the wake of a mass shooting on December 15, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Audrey Richardson/Getty Images)
(SYDNEY) — The 24-year-old man who allegedly opened fire alongside his father on a Jewish gathering at Australia’s Bondi Beach has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and dozens of other offenses, the New South Wales Police said on Wednesday.
Naveed Akram has been charged with 59 offenses, including 40 counts of causing wounding or grievous bodily harm to a person with intent to murder, police said in a statement.
Akram, who remains under police guard in a hospital, was expected to appear in court on Wednesday via a video link, police said.
He allegedly opened fire alongside his father, Sajid Akram, 50, at an event at the beach on Sunday, killing fifteen people and injuring another 41, according to officials. The alleged assailant’s father, who was also alleged to have fired on the group, was shot and killed by police, law enforcement said.
The NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team is leading an investigation into the shooting, after Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon declared it to be terror-related.
“Police will allege in court the man engaged in conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and cause fear in the community,” the investigators said in announcing the charges. “Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, a listed terrorist organisation in Australia.”
Akram has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder, 40 courts of causing wounding or grievous bodily harm to person with intent to murder, discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, causing a public display of a prohibited terrorist organization’s symbol and placing an explosion in or near a building with intent to cause harm, according to police.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters Tuesday that the father and son traveled to the Philippines in the weeks leading up to the attack and may have been inspired by the ISIS terrorist organization.
“It would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organization, by ISIS,” Albanese told reporters at a Tuesday press conference.
Twenty of those who were injured in the attack were still being treated at hospitals across Sydney, officials said on Wednesday. Two of the injured were police officers. A constable was listed on Wednesday in critical but stable condition, while a probationary constable was listed in stable condition, police said.
“Doctors. Nurses. Surgeons. Radiologists. Pathologists. And so many more. We’ve seen humanity at its very best, as you’ve worked tirelessly to save lives,” Albanese said on Wednesday on social media. “We can’t thank you enough.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada on February 5, 2026. Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images
(TORONTO) — A total of eight people were killed — most of them at a school — and more than two dozen were wounded, after a shooter opened fire on Tuesday in a small community in Canada’s British Columbia. Officials had earlier said nine people were killed before revising the death toll.
The suspected shooter — identified as 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar — is dead from what is believed to be a self-inflicted injury, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The suspect did not currently have any firearms registered to her, according to the RCMP.
There was a documented history of police visits to the family residence over several years, with the most recent visit to the home in the spring of 2025. That visit was related to “concerns regarding mental health” and “self-harm” with respect to the suspect, British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said, during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Van Rootselaar was not currently registered or attending the school where the shooting took place. Among the dead are members of the suspect’s family and students between the ages of 12 and 17, according to the RCMP.
Van Rootselaar was assigned male at birth but publicly identified as a female, according to the RCMP.
The police have no leads as to the motive behind the shooting at this time, McDonald said.
“It’s something we’re certainly passionately pursuing, but it would be too early to speculate on motive at this time,” McDonald said.
“We don’t have information at this time to suggest that anyone was specifically targeted,” in the shooting, he added.
Police said the suspect was “apprehended for assessment and follow-up” under Canada’s Mental Health Act “on different occasions,” over the years. In some circumstances, the suspect was taken to the hospital, McDonald said.
Police had also visited the residence in the past, where firearms were seized “under the criminal code,” McDonald said. At a later time, the “lawful owner” of those firearms petitioned to have them returned, and they were. There were no criminal charges in relation to those firearms issued, McDonald said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced seven days of mourning after the deadly shooting. A visibly emotional Carney called it “a very difficult day for the nation.”
“This morning, parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in Tumbler Ridge will wake up without someone they love. The nation mourns with you. Canada stands by you,” Carney told reporters on Wednesday in Ottawa.
“We thank the first responders, the teachers, the staff, the residents, for everything that they’ve done in this terrible situation. I, on the advice of the Clerk of the Privy Council and Heritage Canada, I’ve asked that the flags of the Peace Tower here and across all government buildings be flown at half-mast for the next seven days,” he said.
The shooting consisted of two incidents on Tuesday afternoon — one at a local residence and then at the school in the community. The incident at the home occurred first before the suspect headed for the school, McDonald said.
The gunfire was reported at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School at about 1:20 p.m., the RCMP said.
Officers responding to the scene found six people dead inside the school, and two people were found dead at a local residence. The two people found dead at the residence are the suspect’s mom and stepbrother, police said.
Two other victims were airlifted to the hospital with serious or life-threatening injuries. Both of these people are now in critical, but stable condition, Canadian police said Wednesday afternoon. About 25 others were being assessed for injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, authorities said.
The eight victims of the shooting include a 39-year-old female educator, three 12-year-old female students and two male students — ages 12 and 13 — who were found dead at the school, according to Canadian police.
The two victims found at the local residence were a 39-year-old female, the suspect’s mother, and an 11-year-old male, the suspect’s stepbrother, Canadian police said.
Police are not identifying the victims until all family members have been notified, McDonald said. Family notifications are ongoing, he added.
Carney said he was “devastated” by the shooting.
“I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens,” Carney said in the statement.
Tumbler Ridge is a small community of about 2,400 people located in the Northern Rockies in northeastern British Columbia.
A private residential building in the Darnytskyi district lies partially destroyed by a Russian drone strike on December 27, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Andrii Khodkov/Apostrophe/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(KYIV and LONDON) — Russia has carried out one of the biggest attacks on Kyiv in months, using an estimated 500 drones and 40 missiles, including powerful Kinzhal missiles, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The strikes began early Saturday morning and appeared to target power stations and residential area buildings in Kyiv as officials said at least 22 people have been injured, including two children, with 12 being taken to hospital.
In the wider Kyiv oblast, at least one woman has been killed and several apartment buildings were hit as fires broke out and rescue workers looked for people believed to be trapped under the rubble amid the destruction.
More than 2,600 apartment buildings and many schools have lost heating and an estimated 320,000 homes in the region had no electricity.
There were hits on Kyiv’s TPP-5 power plant and on the Bila Tserkva plant, according to officials, in another sign that Russia is attempting to break Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the winter months.
The Ukrainian president said the attack was Russia’s “answer” to peace efforts, calling on Western countries to send more air defense systems.
Zelenskyy told journalists in a WhatsApp chat on Saturday –while already on the plane to the United States for his planned meeting with President Donald Trump — that Ukraine can only move toward peace if there are strong, legal security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe. He said Ukraine has agreed to “many different compromises,” but stressed they only make sense if the country is fully protected the day after a ceasefire.
Zelenskyy said everything depends on keeping allies together. “If the whole world – Europe and America – is on our side, together we will stop Putin,” he said.
Earlier this week, at least seven people were killed and 39 injured in Ukraine after Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of long-range drone strikes Wednesday night into Thursday morning, according to Ukrainian officials.
“Unfortunately, even on Christmas Eve and during Christmas night, the Russian army did not stop its brutal strikes against Ukraine, targeting our energy system and our people. There are brownouts in many of our cities and villages,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“Russian troops are once again striking the cities of our east, and in Chernihiv, aid was being provided at the very moment of our conversation with the Patriarch to people wounded by a Russian drone that struck an ordinary residential building,” Zelenskyy added.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) welcomes President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) at his Mar-a-Lago residence for a meeting and closed-door lunch afterwards in Florida, United States on December 28, 2025. (Photo by Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s “peace efforts” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the White House on Sunday to discuss a possible peace deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
“The whole world appreciates President Trump and his team’s peace efforts,” Dmitriev, who also serves as the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has been closely involved in negotiations with U.S. representatives, said in a post to X.
Dmitriev also posted criticism of what he called “UK/EU warmongers” for their continued backing of Ukraine, echoing the established Kremlin narrative that seeks to frame U.S. diplomatic efforts as being undermined by NATO and European allies.
Trump and Zelenskyy met at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
Before the meeting, Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. The call was “organized at the initiative of Trump,” Ushakov said, as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
After his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters that the negotiating teams are “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to achieving a peace deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, which Moscow launched in February 2022.
“We had a terrific meeting. We discussed a lot of things. As you know, I had an excellent phone call with President Putin that lasted for over two hours. We discussed a lot of points, and I do think we’re getting a lot closer,” Trump said.
The president said the two leaders covered “95%” of the issues needed to end the war. Trump then detailed a call with European leaders after his bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, indicating that it went well.
The thorniest negotiating issues still appeared unsettled following the White House meeting. Both Trump and Zelenskyy said the question of Ukrainian territorial concessions — specifically regarding the eastern Donbas region — was yet to be agreed upon.
Russia wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the entirety of the Donbas — which is formed of Donetsk and Luhansk regions — in exchange for a peace deal. Zelenskyy has instead proposed a “demilitarized zone” covering the area.
Trump also again dismissed the idea of an immediate ceasefire to facilitate subsequent peace negotiations, which Ukraine has repeatedly proposed. Instead, Trump indicated sympathy with Putin’s demand for a full peace deal before any halt to the fighting.
“He feels that look, you know, they’re fighting and to stop and then, if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position,” Trump said of Putin. “I understand that position.”
Zelenskyy nonetheless gave a positive readout of his White House visit in subsequent posts to social media.
“Thank you to President Trump and his team for the negotiations,” he wrote on Telegram. “Thank you to the United States for their support. Together, we have and can implement our vision of a series of steps towards peace.”
Zelenskyy described the talks as “a wonderful meeting,” which included “a meaningful discussion on all issues and highly appreciate the progress made by the Ukrainian and American teams over the past few weeks.”
Zelenskyy also thanked presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been fronting the White House’s recent shuttle diplomacy.
“We discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of further actions,” Zelenskyy said.
“We agree that security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue to work on all aspects. We agreed that our teams will meet next week to finalize all discussed issues,” he added.
Trump, Zelenskyy said, agreed to host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington, D.C., in January for further talks. “Ukraine is ready for peace,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump said if things go “really well,” a peace settlement could be reached in “a few weeks.” It’s also possible that a breakthrough never comes.
“But you know, in a few weeks we will know one way or the other,” Trump said, adding, “It’s been a very difficult negotiation.”
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Trump will speak over the phone again “in the very near future.” Peskov said the Kremlin did not yet know the outcome of the Sunday talks in Florida, but said Moscow agrees with Trump’s statement that peace is “significantly closer.”
As to a possible call between Putin and Zelenskyy, Peskov said, “There is no talk of such a conversation at this time.”
Responding to questions from journalists while traveling back from Florida on Monday, Zelenskyy gave more details on the ongoing peace talks.
Asked by ABC News whether Ukraine has a plan B, Zelenskyy said, “Ukraine has always had plan A, which is peace.”
“We never wanted war. And in Russia plan A was the war. Therefore, in my opinion, Russia should already think about plan B, about ending the war,” he continued.
Zelenskyy also said he was open to a phone call with Putin, as well as “any options” that can help end the war.
Talks are ongoing as to U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. The current term of the proposed guarantee is 15 years with the possibility of extension, he added. Kyiv is pushing to extend that term to 30 to 40 years, Zelenskyy said.
Kyiv and Moscow continued their exchange of nightly long-range strikes overnight into Monday, though their scale was somewhat muted compared with major attacks in recent days.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 25 drones into the country overnight, of which 21 were shot down or suppressed. Four drones impacted at two locations, the air force said.
Sunday night’s attack was the smallest since the one launched on the night of June 27 to 28, according to air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said it downed at least 112 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Krasnodar, Kaluga and Pskov during the overnight attacks, said Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya.
ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Nataliia Popova, Yulia Drozd and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
