The mother of the young man responsible for the tragic attack at Bondi Beach has revealed the intricate deception her son used to mislead his family before the incident.

Naveed Akram, a 24-year-old unemployed bricklayer, along with his 50-year-old father, staged a horrific assault on a Jewish Hanukkah gathering just before 7 p.m. on Sunday. The attack resulted in the deaths of at least 16 individuals and left 40 others injured.

Authorities detained Akram at the crime scene, where he was found in a critical but stable condition and taken to the hospital under police guard. Meanwhile, his father lost his life during the attack.

Verena, Akram’s mother, spoke from her home in Bonnyrigg, Sydney’s western suburbs, which is currently under police surveillance. She recounted how her son had fabricated a story about spending the weekend at Jervis Bay with his father, supposedly for fishing and swimming.

“He called me on Sunday,” Verena told the Sydney Morning Herald, “saying, ‘Mum, I just went for a swim. I went scuba diving. We’re going… to eat now.'”

‘And then this morning, “we’re going to stay home now because it’s very hot”.’

Verena was unable to identify her son from a photo at the scene of the shooting, but insisted he was a ‘good boy’ who is incapable of violence or extremism. 

‘He doesn’t have a firearm. He doesn’t even go out. He doesn’t mix around with friends. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t go to bad places,’ she said. 

Naveed Akram, 24, has been identified as one of the gunmen behind the Bondi Beach shooting

Akram was shot, arrested and was rushed to hospital in critical condition under police guard 

Police raid the home of Naveed Akram in Bonnyrigg, western Sydney, on Sunday night

‘He goes to work, he comes home, he goes to exercise, and that’s it.’

Verena said Akram had worked as a bricklayer until about two months ago when the company became insolvent. 

He had attended Cabramatta High School and was not particularly social, she said.

He lived at the three-bedroom Bonnyrigg home with his parents and younger sister and brother, around which police set up an exclusion zone on Sunday night.

Their neighbour, Lemanatua Fatu, told the Daily Mail she was shocked and scared to find out she was living opposite a killer.

‘We saw lots of police cars arriving in the street and especially in that house,’ she said. ‘We couldn’t sleep, watching everything – it was so scary.’

Asked about the killer and his family, she said: ‘We notice them coming and going everyday and they never say hello or anything, they were just normal people.

‘We were so shocked to know they shot people.

Sixteen people have been confirmed dead following the shooting 

Bondi Beach erupted into chaos after the shots rang out shortly before 7pm on Sunday

‘We saw them sometimes coming out of the house and doing normal things, it’s shocking and terrifying.’

Police also raided an address in Campsie, where the father and son are believed to have been staying before the shooting. 

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed all six firearms owned by the father, a licensed firearms holder, had been seized. 

‘We are satisfied that we have six firearms from the scene yesterday, but also as a result of the search warrant at the Campsie address,’ he said. 

‘Ballistics and forensic investigation will determine those six firearms are the six that were licenced to that man, but also they were used in the offence yesterday at Bondi.’