Initially, I thought it was fireworks. But they just didn’t stop. It took about 15 seconds for my mind to clock what was happening. All hell was breaking loose.

I’d arrived at the northern tip of Bondi just minutes before. It had been a hot, humid Sunday, and the day was just coming into the golden hour. Who wouldn’t want to get in an evening swim?

Police attend to those at the Hanukkah event in the moments after the shooting.Credit: Edwina Pickles

I’d initially been tossing up whether to go to Clovelly – where it’s less pretty, but easier to find somewhere to dump your car – but after a friend who lived in Bellevue Hill said he’d be keen to join me, we decided we’d head to Bondi.

When a parking spot finally opened up at the northern end of the beach, my friend noticed he knew the man who’d just parked right in front of us. “Are you here for the Hanukkah event too?” he asked us after he got out of his car.

If you’re part of Sydney’s tight-knit Jewish community, running into someone you know in Bondi is a fairly common experience.

We hadn’t known the event was on – it’s a routine safety precaution for Jewish communal events to only have locations revealed hours before starting. But we told him we’d pass through later to check it out –........

© The Sydney Morning Herald