A former colleague of one of the Bondi Beach attackers told a foreign media outlet that Naveed Akram is of Indian origin.
In an interview with A current issueFormer co-worker Lachie said he immediately identified Akram when he saw his photograph online.
While revealing about Akram's personal life, the former colleague said, “Yes, like his origin is Indian and Italian…his mother is Italian, his father is Indian.”
A father and son duo opened fire at a Jewish festival on Australia's best-known beach on Sunday night, killing 15 people, including a child, and wounding 42 more.
The colleague said he was browsing social media when he found the image. “Shock, disbelief, proper shock,” he said, recalling his reaction. “I didn't think someone you could spend time with day in and day out in a workplace would do something so cruel.”
He added that regardless of the motive, the attack was unjustifiable. “No matter what the motives are or what's behind it, it's just wrong. And for what?” said.
The former colleague said he had worked with Akram on and off for about five years in the construction sector. “Probably for about five years as a bricklayer on and off,” he said.
He explained that there was nothing in Akram's behavior to suggest he was capable of such violence. “You wouldn't pick him. But yeah, that's him,” he said.
Authorities have condemned the attack as an act of terrorism, although they have not identified the two shooters: one died at the scene and the other is now in hospital.
However, the Australian public broadcaster alphabet said the alleged attacker was Naveed Akram from the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg, citing an unnamed official, and other local media reported that police had raided his home.
According to Australian media reports, Naveed was detained at the time of the shooting and taken to hospital, where he remains under police guard in critical but stable condition. His father, Sajid, who reportedly owned a fruit shop, died on the spot.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed that Sajid came to Australia on a student visa in 1998, which was converted to a partner visa in 2001, and has since been on a return resident visa. Burke also said that Sajid's son Naveed is an Australian citizen born in 2001.
The couple had reportedly told the family they were going fishing on the south coast, and Naveed's mother Verena said she had gone to Jervis Bay with her father over the weekend and last spoke to the family on Sunday morning.
'Terrified' Sydney man wrongly identified as Bondi shooter
A Sydney man said he had received death threats and was “terrified” to leave his home on Monday after his photograph was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting.
Photos of a beaming man in a green Pakistan cricket jersey circulated on social media.
Some of the posts were shared thousands of times, generating scathing comments.
But the photo was taken from the Facebook profile of another Naveed Akram, who on Monday asked people to stop misinformation in a video posted by the Pakistani Consulate in Sydney.
“According to media reports, the name of one of the shooters is Naveed Akram and my name is also Naveed Akram,” he said in the video.
“That's not me. I have nothing to do with the incident or that person,” he said, condemning the “terrible” Bondi Beach shooting.
“I just want everyone's help to help me stop this propaganda,” she said, asking users to report accounts that misused her photo, which she had shared in a 2019 post.
'It endangers life'
The 30-year-old, who lives in a northwest Sydney suburb, told AFP he first heard about 9.30pm on Sunday that he had been falsely identified as the shooter.
“Last night I couldn't even sleep,” Akram told AFP by phone, adding that he deleted all the “terrible” messages he received.
“I'm terrified. I can't go out, like it's a life-threatening problem, so I don't want to risk anything… my family is worried too, so it's a pretty difficult time for me.”
He asked the Pakistani consulate to release the video because his relatives in the country's Punjab province were also receiving phone calls.
“I was destroying my image, my family's image,” he said.
“People started calling them. They were worried and told the police there.”
The Pakistan native moved to Australia in 2018 to attend Central Queensland University and then pursued a master's degree at Sydney's Holmes Institute.
Today he runs a car rental business and says Australia is “the perfect country.”
“I love this country. I have never had any security problems here, everyone is very nice, people are very kind here,” Akram said.
“It is only this incident that has caused me this trauma.”
— With additional information from AFP
