Stranger Shielded 3-Year-Old Girl With Her Body During Bondi Beach Shooting

Stranger Shielded 3-Year-Old Girl With Her Body During Bondi Beach Shooting

A couple has described the terrifying moments they believed they had lost their three-year-old daughter during the deadly shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia on Sunday night.

Wayne and Vanessa Miller were attending a Hanukkah gathering at the popular beach on December 14 when gunfire suddenly erupted, sending crowds scrambling for cover. Amid the chaos, they became separated from their youngest daughter, Gigi.

At around 6:47pm local time, two gunmen opened fire in what police have described as a targeted attack against the Jewish community. Fifteen people were killed in the shooting. One of the attackers died at the scene, while the second — believed to be his son — was taken to hospital in critical condition.

As the shots rang out, Wayne managed to grab one of his daughters, Capri, and shielded her under a table. “I just lay on top of her,” he told Sky News Australia. Unbeknown to him at the time, Gigi had wandered away after playing near her mother.

The terrifying reality set in when Vanessa called to ask whether Wayne had Gigi. Neither parent could find her.

“Maybe a minute later, Vanessa called and said, ‘Have you got Gigi?’ And I said no,” Wayne recalled. “That’s when the absolute panic set in.”

Vanessa immediately began searching frantically, screaming for her child as gunfire continued. “All I could do was shout, ‘Where’s my little girl?’” she said. “I saw her for a second, dancing, and then she was gone.”

During her search, a New South Wales Police officer — who had been shot in the head — tried to pull Vanessa down to safety. She resisted, desperate to keep looking. “There was blood everywhere,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Wayne remained in hiding until the gunfire stopped, what he described as feeling like hours. Once it was safe to move, he reunited with Vanessa, handed Capri to her, and began searching for Gigi, who had been wearing a pink T-shirt.

His search ended in relief when he discovered his daughter lying beneath a woman who had shielded her from the bullets. The woman, later identified as Jess, told Wayne she had protected Gigi with her own body and had been shot in the process.

Jess was taken to hospital with her injuries and survived. Wayne said he spent around ten minutes speaking with her before she was taken away, thanking her and telling her he would forever be grateful for saving his daughter’s life.

The Millers were among dozens of families caught up in the attack, which took place during an event marking the first night of Hanukkah. Police have officially described the shooting as a terrorist attack.