Known at 17, a Terrorist at 24: Did Australian Authorities Look Away Too Soon?

The younger shooter, Naveed Akram, was interviewed by authorities in 2019 but wasn’t deemed a threat at the time.

Floral tributes and candles are placed at at Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 16, 2025. Audrey Richardson/Getty Images

Authorities and the government face scrutiny as more evidence emerges that the younger of the two men responsible for the mass terrorist shooting in Bondi had contact with a Sydney ISIS cell and radical jihadist preacher Wissam Haddad.

Naveed Akram, who interacted with Haddad when he was 17, was not on any terror watchlist when he and his late father, Sajid Akram—shot by police during the incident on Dec. 14—was able to obtain a firearms licence and amass a cache of six weapons including rifles.