Snipers guard mourners as thousands mark one week since Bondi Beach massacre

Thousands turned out for a memorial Sunday, one week after the Bondi Beach mass shooting shook Australia, as officials announced a review of the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies

Thousands turned out for a memorial Sunday, one week after the Bondi Beach mass shooting shook Australia, as officials announced a review of the country's law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The attack — Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly three decades — killed 15 people during a seaside Hanukkah celebration and was designated a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community. One suspect was killed during the attack, while the other was injured and charged with terrorism and murder after he awoke from a coma, as Australian investigators probe their alleged connection to the Islamic State terrorist group.

A minute of silence was observed at 6:47 p.m. local time (2:47 a.m. E.T.) Sunday, exactly seven days since the attack began. A candle projection lit up Sydney Opera House, while crowds of mourners attended an evening memorial at Bondi, guarded by a heavy police presence, including snipers on rooftops and police boats in the waters.

Mourners at the memorial Sunday for the victims of the shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney.Saeed Khan / AFP - Getty ImagesThe Sydney Opera House is illuminated with candle lights Sunday as part of a national day of reflection honoring the victims of the Bondi Beach attack.George Chan / AFP - Getty ImagesDavid Ossip, the president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, told the crowd: "Like the grass here at Bondi was stained with blood, so, too, has our nation been stained. We have landed up in a dark place."

But he pointed to the heroism of Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian Australian fruit shop owner who disarmed one of the shooters, adding that "a single act of courage, a single flame of hope, can give us direction and point the path forward."