‘Someone said ‘excuse me’ and...’: Viral photo shows lifeguard running barefoot to save people after Bondi Beach attack

Amid the ongoing investigation into the December 14 Bondi Beach attack in which 15 people were killed, a viral photo showed a lifeguard sprinting towards Bondi Beach, barefoot, carrying a defibrillator. The man, identified as Jackson Doolan, ran around 1.5 km, barefoot, to save lives when he heard about the attack. The photo was taken by Alexandra Ching, a resident of Bondi. On Sunday evening, like many residents in the area, she heard pops echo through the neighbourhood and thought they were fireworks.

“Everyone did, but I thought it was too light and no one could see them, so what’s the point,” Ching told the Guardian. She left her apartment to see people “streaming up Bondi Road”. When she saw the looks on their faces, she knew something was wrong.

“I heard someone say ‘excuse me’, and as I turned I just saw this flash of blue,” she said.

“He was just flying past. It was just him running in the direction that everyone was trying to escape from, carrying that big kit and barefoot … He’s running at something that surely every fibre in your being, you know, would tell you to go in the other direction," she described the lifeguard.

Andy Reid, another lifeguard, said Doolan, known as “Jacko”, ran from Tamarama beach to back up the rest of his team at Bondi. The Bondi lifeguards shared a statement on Tuesday saying their team was “still trying to comprehend what occurred” on Sunday.

“Thank you all for your kind messages and support. We are overwhelmed by the compassion shown towards our responders,” the group wrote on social media.

“In time, we will share our stories in the hope that it helps those affected and reflects that everything possible was done," they added.