Irish woman who was on Bondi Beach with son minutes before shooting 'still shaking'

An Irish woman, who was on Bondi Beach with her 11-year-old son a few minutes before the deadly weekend shooting began, says she’s “still shaking” from what happened.

Michelle Doherty’s Sydney home is just a few minutes walk from the beach. She could hear the shots ringing out from the balcony of her apartment as gunmen fired indiscriminately into crowds, killing at least 15 people on Sunday evening.

The shocked 48-year-old from Glengad, Co Donegal, has described the terrifying scene following Australia’s worst mass shooting in three decades.

“Everything was going absolutely mad; there were helicopters everywhere and sirens and police all over the place.”

“We were at a Christmas party on the beach, I'd say about 200 metres away from where it happened.”

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“I'd just left, and come in to grab some food for me and my son Max, when Max’s dad rang in a panic to ask if we were okay. He said there had been a shooting.”

“I couldn’t believe it, because we were just there. I opened the balcony door, and I could actually hear the gunshots going off all around us.”

“I was shaking, I was just so emotional and so upset. Something like that just doesn’t happen in Bondi. We’ve always felt so safe and settled here.”

Michelle, who has lived in Australia for the past eight years, is struggling to come to terms with the awful events.

“All day I’ve had this heaviness in my heart; the thought of unarmed innocent people being attacked like that. They were celebrating a festival and then to be gunned down without warning; it’s an act of terrorism.”

“It’s just heartbreaking for the families; it's heartbreaking for everybody who lives in Bondi as well, because there's no place for that around here. Everybody's just happy to live in a safe and beautiful place, but this puts a really dark cloud over us.”

“All the roads are still pretty much cordoned off near where I live, and all the beaches are closed. It’s usually packed with people, but it’s so empty now, and it just feels really eerie and really sombre.”

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The youngest victim of the atrocity was a ten-year-old girl, just one year older than Michelle’s son Max. She is so thankful that he was spared the worst of it, and is safe and well.

“When it was happening, thank God he was watching something, so he didn't really know much about it – and I didn't tell him anything until I was getting him ready for bed. I told him that something really bad had happened at the beach, and he was distraught.”

“He couldn’t understand it; he was shocked, and he was obviously very scared going to bed. I went in to check on him all night, because I was so relieved and so thankful that we'd gotten home safe and we were still together.”

Michelle has been inundated with calls from worried friends and relatives over the past 24 hours.

“My mum rang straight away, I have cousins in Birmingham too, and they contacted me immediately – my phone has been non-stop with people just checking in. Everybody's in shock, and, yeah, it's a bit too close to home, to be honest.”

“It’s the start of summer here, and it’s usually buzzing with tourists and people enjoying the sun, but tonight it’s like a ghost town. The weather was actually grey this evening, which matched the sombre atmosphere.”