(NewsNation) — When shots started ringing out at Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday, Logan Wein and Jordy Velasco turned into oncoming traffic and warned people headed toward the water to turn around altogether.
“We were just screaming, like, ‘Hey, shooter, shooter.’ And people just were turning around and running,” Wein said.
At least 15 people were killed and 38 were injured after two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah event at the popular Sydney beach. Police fatally shot one gunman and the second was arrested in critical condition.
“We were driving. We were about to go and pick up our food we had ordered previously … all of a sudden we started to hear shots, and we didn’t know what was happening,” Velasco said. “People in Australia, we are not really used to hearing these kind of noises. So, people were very confused.”
Wein, who is from the U.S., told “Morning in America” he immediately recognized the sounds at the beach as gunshots.
Mourners gather near the site of the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. Australia will consider toughening gun laws after a father and his son killed 15 people in the nation’s deadliest terror attack, opening fire on members of the Jewish community who were celebrating the start of Hanukkah at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday evening. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
A couple embrace following a shooting the day prior at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) 
A note is left attached to a flower at a tribute for shooting victims outside the Bondi Pavilion at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, a day after a shooting. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) 
People gather near the site of the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. Australia will consider toughening gun laws after a father and his son killed 15 people in the nation’s deadliest terror attack, opening fire on members of the Jewish community who were celebrating the start of Hanukkah at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday evening. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
Barricades lying toppled in the early morning following a shooting Sunday at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
“Jordy immediately took a right onto incoming traffic, and we were able to, like you said, make our way up the hill,” Wein said. “We were advising people to turn around.”
Their traffic changeup allowed them to escape the scene, which Wein described as an “absolutely terrifying experience, obviously something we will never forget.”
Officials said this is the deadliest attack of this nature since 1996. The shooting comes amid heightened concern in Australia following a series of antisemitic incidents nationwide since the start of the Israel war in Gaza.
In 2024, Sydney and Melbourne saw antisemitic attacks, including the torching of synagogues and cars, as well as vandalism of businesses and homes, The Associated Press reported.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack “targeted,” calling it an “act of evil, antisemitism, terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation.”
Wein and Velasco called for unity among Australians following the shooting.
“This is the moment in which we want to stay together, and we know that there is different points of views, but we feel for the communities that are affected, and we feel for every single one of the person, the people, that have been affected,” Velasco said.
NewsNation’s Alicia Nieves and Ashley Soriano contributed to this report.