Kellie Sloane, and the father and son she helped
When terror struck Bondi Beach, NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane rushed towards danger, helping save a father and son amid the chaos.
NSW Opposition Leader and Member for Vaucluse, Kellie Sloane, was preparing to deliver an address at a Chanukah carnival in Dover Heights on December 14.
She soon found herself at a different Chanukah event, running into danger to help those in need. And she ended up saving the life of a young father and his son.
Last Sunday, just one week after Australia’s deadliest terror attack, which targeted Sydney’s Jewish community at Chabad Bondi’s Chanukah by the Sea at Bondi Beach, Sloane shared her story with more than 20,000 people, plus hundreds of thousands more watching live.
Describing the Dover Heights event, Sloane said, “people were laughing and they were dancing, and it was such a joyous occasion. And I was on a stage just like this, about to address the crowd, about to talk about the hope I had after a horror start to the year.
“But on that stage last week, I didn’t get a chance to share my words of hope. Instead, as I stood there, I saw the crowd start to run and disperse. I saw CSG security guards start to lock down the event, and I jumped in a Hatzolah ambulance with medic, Rabbi Mendy Litzman.”
The pair raced to Bondi Beach, hearing directly from Litzman’s colleague Yanky Super who had been injured, as they sped down the streets of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
Litzman parked the ambulance underneath the now infamous bridge that the gunmen had been firing from, and ran towards the danger without a second thought.
Sloane, though, was a hero in her own right, rescuing a young father and his son who were hiding under the bridge.
“A Hatzolah car pulled up right under the bridge. A man ran from the driver’s seat and in the passenger seat was a woman who was nicely dressed,” the man, who spoke exclusively to The AJN under the condition of anonymity, recalled. He explained that when he first inquired whether it was safe to come out from their hiding spot, the woman, who he now understands was Sloane, said to wait, before signaling to get in the car quickly.
The pair tried to figure out how to escape the scene before realising that Litzman had taken the keys with him. Sloane, without question, jumped out of the car to try and retrieve them. But while waiting, the father and son quickly ran home.
The father and son have an incredible story themselves, coming face-to-face with one of the gunmen in their attempt to escape.
After saying goodbye to their extended family who were at the event, the father told The AJN his son asked to stay until the chanukiah was lit, before agreeing that they could light their own – handed out at the event – at home. It’s a decision that would save their lives.
“We walked out of the event, walked towards the stairs that lead onto the bridge. We walked up the stairs and started walking along the bridge when we came face to face with the gunmen,” he recalled. They were setting up their shotguns. While the father said he froze for a second, he quickly grabbed his son and they ran to the other staircase on the Pavilion side, sheltering behind the concrete balustrade.
While the pair couldn’t see what was going on, they heard every single gunshot.
“The shooter then came into my line of sight when he made his way down the bridge. He was one metre from me,” the father explained, saying while they were shuffling down the stairs, the terrorist began walking backwards towards them. “I whispered to [my son] ‘we’re going to run’, and I grabbed him and shielded him while we were running.”
The pair hid directly underneath the bridge. The gunmen were right above them. While his son was “shaking uncontrollably”, the father whispered words of comfort.
“I was on top of him … just whispering ‘you’re so brave, this is going to be over soon’.”
Their cover was almost blown just prior to Litzman and Sloane turning up by an intoxicated man who emerged from a campervan that was riddled with bullet holes.
“It all felt like an eternity. I was holding the menorah the whole time.”
Sloane told the crowd at the Light Over Darkness vigil that what she saw when she walked onto the scene will “haunt me forever”.
“I stand before you as someone who saw the devastation, who arrived here last week while the shots were still being fired, who witnessed the chaos and the distress, and who saw the injured, and who held the hands of those who needed a hand held,” she said. “Who saw the chaos and the terror, but also saw the kindness and so many acts of bravery.”
Sloane herself grabbed bandages and tried to help, plugging the holes of those injured as instructed by a surf lifesaver who had run to the scene. The surf lifesavers and lifeguards were some of the first responders to come to the aid of those injured.
And while Sloane acknowledged that what she saw was devastating beyond belief, she ended her address with words of hope, saying the “outpouring of love has given me hope. It’s given me hope that we will mend together.”
“I am in pieces with you. But I will be strong like you are strong,” she said. “You inspire me, and together, together, we will find the light.”
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