Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff nearly bled to death after being shot by the terrorists.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
A young rabbi from Texas remains hospitalized in Sydney after risking his life during the Sydney massacre 11 days ago — saving a wounded police officer and begging for the officer’s gun so he could confront the attackers.
Leibel Lazaroff recounted the events to his father, Yossi, who told Australian media that his son remembered everything that had happened.
According to his father, Lazaroff heard a police officer cry out, “I got shot, I got shot,” and immediately ran to help.
He tore off his own shirt to fashion a tourniquet for the man’s shoulder to stop the heavy bleeding, and reassured the wounded officer that he would survive.
He then told the officer, “Let me do it, give me your gun. I’m licensed, I’m trained. I can get him. Please let me save some people.”
As this was happening, Lazaroff himself was shot by Sajid and Naveed Akram, a father-and-son pair of ISIS supporters who opened fire with rifles and shotguns on crowds attending a Chanukah eve celebration at Bondi Beach.
He was hit in the abdomen and thigh and nearly bled to death at the scene, according to CBS News in Australia.
He has already undergone multiple surgeries and “has a long road to recovery ahead of him,” the report added.
In a post on X, Yossi Lazaroff expanded on the exchange between his son and the wounded officer.
“Since the officer was incapacitated, as the terrorist was walking towards them, Leibel begged the officer to give him his gun, telling him, he’s from Texas, has a gun license and knows how to use it well, if not ‘We’re both going to die.’ As his father, I can attest Leibel’s incredible capabilities.”
In a later post, Yossi said he understood why the officer refused, even as he questioned the outcome.
“I’m fully aware that if the officer gave Leibel his gun, it would be against his rules,” Yossi wrote. “A civilian killing a terrorist to save other people’s lives and his own, is against your rules.”
“But under duress, there are those that their survival instinct is to hide, and there are those that are willing and able to protect others even when it may mean their own certain death, just to save a life. Under strenuous circumstances, the rules of the game change.”
Lazaroff, the only American victim in the attack, had come to Sydney just two months earlier to work with his mentor, Chabad Rabbi Eli Schlanger, helping him arrange the targeted Chanukah event.
He saw Schlanger being killed just feet away from him, one of 15 people ranging in age from 10 to 87 who were murdered in the daylight assault.
More than three dozen others were wounded, several of them seriously like himself, including two police officers.
“He does not regret trying to save a police officer’s life,” Yossi told The Age. “He just says he wishes he could have done more. I hope the Australian government appreciates that, appreciates him.”
The post Texas rabbi begged for policeman’s gun during Bondi Beach attack appeared first on World Israel News.