Bondi Beach shooting suspect charged with terrorism and 15 counts of murder

Australian authorities on Wednesday charged the surviving suspect in the Bondi Beach shooting with 59 offenses, including terrorism and 15 counts of murder

Australian authorities on Wednesday charged the surviving suspect in the Bondi Beach shooting with 59 offenses, including terrorism and 15 counts of murder.

Naveed Akram, 24, was charged after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital having been shot by police. He is alleged to have carried out the ISIS-inspired attack on a Hanukkah celebration alongside his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.

The charges came as the first funerals for the victims were held under tight security, not far from the scene of the antisemitic massacre. Investigators were meanwhile turning their attention to the suspects' alleged ISIS connection, including a trip to a southern island of the Philippines — seen in the past as a hotspot for extremism.

Akram was also charged with 40 counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder and one count each of committing a terrorist act, discharging firearms, placing explosives and publicly displaying a terrorist organization symbol, New South Wales police said.