‘I Couldn't Handle the Screaming’: Bondi Beach Hero Gives First Interview, Reveals His One Regret

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The man who risked his own life to disarm one of the two Islamic State-loving terrorists shooting at Jews celebrating the first night of Chanukah at Australia's famed Bondi Beach has given his first interview after being released from the hospital. 

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Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who operates a shop near where the massacre took place, told CBS News that the he didn't hesitate to act on December 14, thinking only of the lives he could save, saying, “I couldn't handle it to hear kids and the woman and oldest and man screaming and asking for help and no one help.”

The amazing, yet perilous, moment al Ahmed snuck up behind one of the shooters (possibly the now-deceased Sajid Akram, aged 50) taking aim at Jews participating in a "Chanukah by the Sea" celebration was caught on video. The world cheered his actions, which took on outsized importance after reports surfaced that local police were slow to respond to the horror.

Of that moment, the hero revealed, "My soul and all my everything in my organ, in my body, in my brain, asked me to go, and to defend and to save innocent life. I didn't think about it." He also shared his recollection of the moment he disarmed the terrorist:

"I jumped in his back, hit him. I hold him with my right hand and start saying a word, you know, like to warn him, drop your gun, stop doing what you're doing, and it's come all in fast," al Ahmed said of his struggle to remove the weapon from the gunman's grasp. "And emotionally, I'm doing something, which is I feel something, a power in my body, my brain ... I don't want to see people killed in front of me, I don't want to hear his gun, I don't want to see people screaming and begging, asking for help, and that's my soul asking me to do that."

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After he disarmed the gunman, al Ahmed revealed he was hesitant to use the gun against the terrorist, saying, "I didn't think to shoot, and I don't want to put my hand in blood. I don't think I'm the one who can take life of people." Instead, al Ahmed was targeted by the other terrorist (Sajid Akram's 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram) shooting from a nearby footbridge and was shot five times. "The one I felt it first was the arm," al Ahmed remembered. "But after, when we went to the hospital, they told me three in the chest, in the shoulder and two here in the arm."

READ MORE: Watch: Jaw-Dropping Video Shows Moment Hero Bystander Takes Down Bondi Beach Terrorist

This Is Courage: More Heroes Emerging After Bondi Beach Terrorist Attack

Fifteen people were slaughtered that day, with another 40 injured. Officials later found that the car of the father-son terrorist terror was decked out with homemade Islamic State flags and contained explosive devices. Without the actions of Ahmed al Ahmed, who knows how much worse things could have been. 

Still, al Ahmed revealed he's sorry he couldn't have saved more lives, but doesn't regret his actions, saying, "I am proud that I did — I saved innocent people's life. Because if I didn't run and take the gun from the terrorists, it will be disaster, and will be more victims."

Here's the entire interview with Bondi Beach hero Ahmed al Ahmed, which aired Monday on CBS Mornings:

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