At least 16 people were killed when two gunmen opened fire at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday, Australia's deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, despite strict gun control laws. Around 1,000 people had gathered to mark the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah when the attack occurred. 

Shortly after the incident, dramatic footage went viral showing a man in a white T-shirt wrestling a gunman dressed in black, disarming him and snatching his weapon. During the struggle, the man was shot, apparently by another attacker firing from a nearby footbridge. 

The man's bravery earned him global praise but also triggered a wave of disinformation about his identity. 

Hero misidentified as Edward Crabtree 

Claim: A viral post on X, with more than 80,000 views, claims: "Edward Crabtree, a 43-year-old father of two and local fruit shop owner, has been identified as a SAVIOUR after bravely disarming one of the Islamic terrorists at #bondibeach, Australia." 

DW Fact check: False 

Australia's Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, confirmed during a press conference that the man is Ahmed al Ahmed, not Edward Crabtree. Burke praised Ahmed alongside first responders for risking their lives to stop the attackers. 

"The police who were there standing together against the attackers, first responders standing together against the attackers, and even a bystander like Ahmed al Ahmed, standing there putting their own lives at risk against those attackers," said Burke. 

Ahmed is currently hospitalized. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns visited him and shared a photo on Facebook, calling him a "real-life hero."  

"Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk. It was an honor to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW," wrote Minns. 

But where did the Crabtree rumor come from? Numerous posts circulating on social media claimed that the man was not Ahmed but a person called Edward Crabtree. Fake news reports were even shared, describing Crabtree as a "Bondi local and IT professional" who, according to witnesses, carried out an act of bravery that saved dozens of lives. 

The claim originated from a little-known website, thedailyaus.world, registered in Reykjavik, Iceland, just hours after the attack, according to domain data. The website contains only a few articles, none older than 24 hours.

In the meantime, Australian media have reported that Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner originally from Syria, moved to Australia in 2006.

His parents praised him in an interview with ABC News, saying that Ahmed acted when the shooter ran out of ammunition. 

"He saw they were dying, and people were losing their lives, and when that guy (the shooter) ran out of ammo, he took it from him, but he was hit," said his mother, Mlakeh Hasn al Ahmed. 

Mistaken identity

Claim: A video circulating on X (formerly Twitter) shows a man claiming his photo was falsely linked to the Bondi Beach attack. The clip was shared on an X account which gained over 2 million views (archived) and was widely reposted.  

DW Fact check: True  

The photo of this man is being misused and wrongly spread to show the alleged shooter at Bondi Beach.

Social media users posted two side-by-side photos, one of a man in a green cricket shirt and another of the alleged shooter at Bondi Beach. Users claimed that they were the same person, but the man in the cricket shirt said that he was not. A reverse image search reveals the photo originates from the Facebook post of a man with the same name as one of the attackers. He posted, "That is me, and I am completely innocent and have no connection whatsoever to what happened. Someone is falsely using my picture, which is putting my safety, reputation, and well-being at risk." 

On his Facebook account, he had shared the photo showing him in the green cricket jersey. It dates back to 2019.  

In a video posted on X, he confirms that he has the same first and last name as one of the alleged attackers but that there is no connection between him and the terror attack. 

A police report confirms the alleged shooters in Bondi Beach were father and son. The 24-year-old shooter suffered critical injuries and was taken to a hospital. It is therefore impossible for the man speaking in the video to be the alleged attacker.  

Comparing other photos international media outlets published of the alleged shooter, like here and here, also confirms that the two men appear significantly different.

There is no link between the man in the X video and the alleged shooter. His Facebook photo has indeed been put into the wrong context.

Claim: A video posted on TikTok claims that the attackers were walking on Bondi Beach before the Sunday attack. The clip shows many people walking along the beach, with two figures seen carrying bags.

The post reads: "The culprits are walking on the beach before Att*ack." The video has more than 270,000 views. 

DW Fact check: Fake 

The video is fake, more specifically, AI-generated. There appears to be a pattern in the placement of figures, and the umbrellas look too similar. Another clue is the shadows: discrepancies in their size and direction are visible. In the initial frames, the shadows of three figures appear to go in different directions.

The background provides another clue. The video shows large trees at regular intervals, including one close to the cliff. On closer inspection, these trees follow a repeating pattern, a common AI artifact. And the trees remain almost the same in size, though at a bigger distance, where the size should normally become smaller.

Comparing the clip to original images of Bondi Beach shows that the cliff is not as smooth as depicted in the video, and there are no such large trees there either.

The short, eight-second clip is shot from a bird's-eye view, typical of AI-generated videos, which often use wide angles to avoid showing faces.

Moreover, the video was posted by an account that regularly shares AI-generated short clips. When analyzed with an AI detection engine, the clip was also classified as likely AI-generated or deepfake content.

Edited by: Rachel Baig