Separate incidents in the United States and Australia highlight ongoing concerns around public safety.
Content Warning: This article contains descriptions of mass shootings, terrorism, and gun violence. Reader discretion is advised.
This past weekend was marked by multiple mass shootings that revived discussions on gun violence. In Providence, Rhode Island, a mass shooting took place at Brown University, killing two people and injuring nine, while in Sydney, Australia, a terrorist attack occurred at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration, killing 16 people and injuring 40.
“I couldn’t imagine I would lose my daughter here,” said the mother of Matilda, the youngest victim in the Bondi Beach shooting.
“I can’t imagine what is a monster that stands on that bridge, and seeing a little girl running for her father to hide with him, and he just pulled the trigger on her … it wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t just a bullet, fired from a hill … it stays here [in my heart], it just stays here and here.”
The Bondi Beach shooting became Australia’s deadliest terrorist attack and the second-deadliest mass shooting after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which caused the country to have one of the strongest gun control laws in the world.
Brown University Shooting
On Saturday, an unidentified shooter shot more than 11 people in Brown University’s engineering building, where teaching assistant Joseph Oduro was holding a study session for final exams.
“I immediately, when I saw him, I saw a gun,” Oduro said to ABC News.
“The gun was so big and long that I genuinely thought, like, OK, this is the end of the road for me.”
He later said that he made eye contact with the unidentified shooter as students ran out the door and others hid as the shooting began.
“I know he mumbled something, screamed something, I don’t know exactly what was said, but he entered the room and you could just see the panic in all the students’ eyes,” he said.
“I was standing in the front, so as soon as he walked in, he immediately saw me and I immediately saw him.”
Two students were killed in the shooting, including Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an international student from Uzbekistan, and Ella Cook, a parishioner at Alabama’s Cathedral Church of the Advent and vice president of Brown’s College Republicans.
“We realized that we were looking at the news and reading two people dead and eight people shot without even realizing that we’re, like, reading this about our brother,” said Rukhsora Umurzokova, a sister of Umurzokov, to NBC News.
“We didn’t even know. We don’t want him to end up being a number. We want everyone to see his face. We want everyone to know his name.”
She later said that Brown’s vice president called her to tell her that Umurzokov was killed.
“This was around, like, 2:30 a.m., and they informed me that my brother was killed,” she said.
In an Uzbek-language post, the Uzbekistan Foreign Affairs Ministry confirmed Umurzokov’s death.
“The loss of innocent lives as a result of this tragedy is a heavy loss for all of us,” the ministry said on Telegram.
In an Instagram post, the American Uzbekistan Association said that Umurzokov was “known for his sharp intellect, kind heart and quiet willingness to help anyone in need.”
“He carried himself with humility and compassion, earning the respect and affection of those around him. His curiosity, discipline and generosity reflected both his character and the values of the community that raised him,” the organization said.
“He had a future filled with promise, and his life was cut short far too soon. His passing has left an immeasurable void in the hearts of his family, friends, classmates and the broader Uzbek American community.”
Ella Cook’s church remembered her as “an incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light.”
“Not only here, growing up here at the Advent and myriad ways in which she served faithfully and the ways she encouraged and lift up those around her, but at Brown University, she was an incredible light in that particular place as well,” a minister said during Sunday service.
“Pray for the Cooks.”
Martin Bertao, president of the College Republicans of America, expressed his condolences in an Instagram post.
“Ella was known for her bold, brave and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates. Our prayers are with her family, our Brown’s CR’s and the entire campus as they heal from this tragedy,” he wrote.
Will Donahue, chairman of the College Republicans, expressed anger following her killing.
“I am filled with rage and sadness to learn that our Brown College Republicans VP, Ella Cook, has been identified as one of the victims from the attack,” he wrote on X.
“The entire College Republicans community is weeping this evening learning of the news.”
Brown has since canceled all activities for the rest of the semester.
Bondi Beach Shooting
On Sunday, a terrorist attack occurred at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration that was attended by more than 1,000 people, becoming the second-deadliest mass shooting in Australia’s history after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996.
“Early indications point to a terrorism attack inspired by the Islamic State,” said Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett.
The suspects were father and son Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, who stood on an overpass bridge and shouted “Allahu Akbar”—which means “God is most great” or “Oh my God” in Arabic.
Sajid Akram was stopped from shooting after a bystander, Ahmed Al Ahmed, intervened and took the gun away from Akram.
“My son is a hero. He served in the police, he has the passion to defend people,” said Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Fateh al Ahmed.
“When he saw people lying on the ground and the blood, quickly his conscience pushed him to attack one of the terrorists and take away his weapon.”
Sajid was later killed by officers during the shooting, while Naveed was taken into custody.
Fifteen people were killed in the attack, including Eli Schlanger, a rabbi who organized the event and head of the local Chabad chapter, a Hasidic Jewish organization.
“My dear cousin, Rabbi Eli Schlanger @bondirabbi was murdered in today’s terrorist attack in Sydney,” wrote his cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis, on Instagram.
“He leaves behind his wife and young children, as well as my uncle and aunt and siblings … He was truly an incredible guy.”
Holocaust survivor Alexander Kleytman was killed in the shooting, leaving behind his wife, Larisa.
“We were standing and suddenly came the ‘boom boom,’ and everybody fell down,” she recalled.
“At this moment he was behind me and at one moment he decided to go close to me. He pushed his body up because he wanted to stay near me.”
Alexander immigrated to Australia from Ukraine, after previously living in Serbia.
French citizen Dan Elkayam was killed in the shooting after recently moving to Australia “to explore new opportunities.”
“I am thinking of his family and loved ones and express to them the full solidarity of the nation,” wrote French President Emmanuel Macron to X.
Reactions
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed stricter gun laws following the Bondi shooting, raising implications as Australia already has one of the strictest gun laws in the world.
“Accelerating work on standing up the National Firearms Register; allowing for additional use of criminal intelligence to underpin firearms licensing that can be used in administrative licensing regimes; limiting the number of firearms to be held by any one individual; limiting open-ended firearms licensing and the types of guns that are legal, including modifications; and a condition of a firearm license is holding Australian citizenship,” read a press release from his office.
A January poll by The Australia Institute found that 64% of Australians said that gun laws should be strengthened, with 6% believing they should be rolled back.
Australia Institute Survey
This comes as a previous report from The Introspective detailed global deaths caused by terrorism increasing by 22% in 2024, the highest level since 2017. Another report found that within the U.S., there were more than 139 shootings in schools across the country, which killed 42 people and injured 91.
Following the Brown University shooting, President Trump acknowledged the attack during a White House event.
“Before we begin, I want to just pay my respects to the people—unfortunately, two are no longer with us—Brown University, nine injured and two are looking down on us right now from Heaven,” he said.
“Brown University, great school, really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen.”
The shooting became the 389th mass shooting in the United States this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
In a statement, Sandy Hook Promise, an organization founded by family members of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, called for an end to gun violence.
“A young person in the U.S. is more likely to die by a gun than a disease or an accident. We have to shake ourselves awake from the apathy—reject this being seen as normal—because our children deserve better,” said Lauren Levin, chief advocacy officer of the organization.
“When we come together to take action, we can stop school shootings and we can save lives. It starts by recognizing the warning signs and stepping up to help. And that responsibility and commitment to looking out for one another must be supported by our leaders at all levels with policy to help prevent the misuse of firearms.”
The Introspective 
Leave a comment