Bridget Sarks and her partner reside just a short distance from the Hanukkah By The Sea event, which turned into a scene of chaos. Speaking to Today, Bridget recounted the chilling moment she witnessed the gunmen emerge from their vehicle and begin shooting.

“My partner Tommy and I observed a man exiting the back left side of a car, and for a moment, I felt a pang of sympathy,” she shared. “I initially thought he was a passenger from an Uber who had stumbled and was trying to retrieve crutches.”

However, as she looked closer, her concern turned to alarm. “I just thought, ‘oh, poor guy,’ but then I realized he was picking up a large firearm,” Bridget continued.

With hundreds of families nearby, Bridget and Tommy quickly sprang into action. They jumped on their Vespa, racing down the street and yelling for people to seek safety.

“I’ve lost my voice from shouting, urging people to run and find safety,” Bridget explained. “I wondered if I was mistaken and causing unnecessary panic, but I felt it was crucial to warn everyone just in case.”

Bridget and Tommy were on their way to her brother’s house nearby to where the attack took place and witnessed one of the shooters start firing on the hundreds of families and members of Sydney’s Jewish community, who were celebrating the first day of Hanukkah and the iconic Australian beach.

“There were kids screaming and blood everywhere, it was really horrible,” Bridget told Today, wiping tears from her eyes.

Bridget and Tommy had pulled up behind the gunman’s car, on their Vespa and were just metres from one of the gunmen when he opened fire.

“He was in the white pants and I’ve never seen a gun like that in my life,” she said.

Like so many locals who took cover in their homes and resorted to TV and radio and social media to find out exactly what was happening, as it all unfolded, Bridget and Tommy got to her brother’s place and couldn’t believe what they were watching.

“I was just in tears and we were googling Bondi and nothing was coming up, but finally it rolled on the news and I just, it was just unbelievable,” she said.