'It was a matter of conscience'

BONDI BEACH SAVIOUR

- Agencies

When gunfire shattered the Sunday evening near Bondi Beach, Ahmed al-Ahmed did not run away.

Instead, the 43-year-old father of two ran towards danger, tackling one of the alleged gunmen and wrenching a rifle from his hands, an act that probably saved lives and left him critically injured.

Less than a day after the attack, al-Ahmed remains in a critical but stable condition at St George Hospital in Sydney, where he is undergoing multiple surgeries after being shot four to five times in the shoulder. Several bullets are still lodged in his body, his parents said. Al-Ahmed has since undergone his first surgery successfully and is expected to have two or three more, depending on his condition, his family said.