Police in Australia said they had charged Naveed Akram, who allegedly opened fire on a Jewish event on Sydney's Bondi Beach, with 59 offenses, including a terror charge, on Wednesday.
New South Wales Police said on Wednesday that a man had been charged with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of wounding with attempt to murder, as well as a terror offense and other charges.
"Police will allege in court the man engaged in conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life to advance a religious cause and cause fear in the community," it said in a statement.
"Early indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, a listed terrorist organization in Australia."
The father-and-son perpetrators opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach on Sunday, in an attack that shook the nation and intensified fears of rising antisemitism and violent extremism.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son, Naveed, emerged from a coma on Wednesday after also being shot by police.
He will appear via video link before a local court on Monday morning. He remains in a Sydney hospital under heavy police guard.
The men accused of carrying out Sunday's attack had traveled to the southern Philippines, a region long plagued by Islamist terrorism, weeks before the shooting that Australian police said appeared to be inspired by Islamic State.
Funerals for Jewish victims begin
Sydney will pause in grief on Wednesday as funerals begin for some of the 15 people killed in the terrorist attack, which was Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades.
Albanese did not disclose whether he would attend any of the funerals.
"I would attend anything that I'm invited to; these funerals that are taking place are to farewell people's loved ones," Albanese told ABC Radio, suggesting he was not invited to attend.
Albanese said Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, the man who tackled one of the shooters to disarm his rifle and suffered gunshot wounds, was due to undergo surgery on Wednesday.
Al-Ahmed's uncle, Mohammed al-Ahmed in Syria, said his nephew left his hometown in Syria's northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia.
"We learned through social media. I called his father, and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero; we're proud of him. Syria, in general, is proud of him," the uncle told Reuters.
Prime minister comes under pressure
Albanese is facing criticism that his center-left government did not do enough to prevent the continual rise of antisemitism in Australia during the two-year Israel-Hamas War and failed to avert the mass shooting.
"We will work with the Jewish community; we want to stamp out and eradicate antisemitism from our society," Albanese told reporters.
"We want to also stamp out the evil ideology of what would appear to be, from the investigators, an ISIS-inspired attack. That has no place for that sort of hatred."
Naveed Akram was briefly investigated by Australia's domestic intelligence agency in 2019 over alleged links to Islamic State, but there was no evidence at the time he posed a threat, Albanese said.
Opposition Jewish lawmaker Julian Leeser has said there was "white-hot anger among the community" over the attack.
Albanese paid tribute to Boris and Sofia Gurman, who were killed in the shootings.
"Boris attacked one of these terrorists as he got out of the car, and that caused Mr and Mrs Gurman... to lose their lives," Albanese said.
Health authorities said on Wednesday that 22 patients were receiving care in several Sydney hospitals for their injuries.
In Bondi on Wednesday, swimmers gathered on Sydney's most popular beach and held a minute's silence.
"This week has obviously been very profound, and this morning, I definitely feel a sense of the community getting together, and a sense of everyone sitting together. Everyone's grieving, everyone's understanding and processing it in their own way," Archie Kalaf, a 24-year-old Bondi man, told Reuters.