Bondi Beach terror suspect Naveed Akram’s eyes lit up whenever he spoke about guns – and even bragged he was a better marksman than an Olympic sharpshooter.
Akram, 24, along with his father Sajid, 50, allegedly opened fire on a Jewish festival celebrating the first night of Hanukkah on December 14.
They are accused of killing 15 during the alleged terror attack, with dozens more rushed to hospital suffering life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Police allege the pair were carrying four firearms and four homemade bombs, and that Sajid, who was killed by officers during the attack, held a gun licence.
Daily Mail last week revealed Sydney tradie Rishy worked alongside the alleged mass killer for a year at the building site of the Crows Nest Metro station on Sydney’s lower north shore.
Now Daily Mail can reveal Akram openly boasted about his firearm skills for years and even challenged a former Olympian, claiming his abilities were superior.
Akram would usually sit silently, arms crossed, saying little while his coworkers chatted about families and weekend plans.
But Rishy says everything changed when the subject turned to guns.
Naveed Akram’s eyes lit up whenever he spoke about guns, says his former workmate
Naveed Akram (pictured) was a withdrawn worker having no real friends or social life
The suspected Bondi Beach terror attacker is alleged to have conducted firearms training at a location thought to be in the NSW Southern Highlands, pictured here in a court-released still from a video police allegedly found on his phone
‘Nav had a really bad stutter, but no one would make him feel uncomfortable about it or laugh at him,’ Rishy told the Daily Mail.
‘He didn’t even scroll on his phone or anything – just sat there watching everyone eat and unless someone spoke to him, he never said a word.
‘Every morning I’d ask how his night or weekend was and it was always the same reply. ‘Good good good, w-w-w-went to the gym,’ same conversation every day, always stuttering.’
But he would suddenly come alive if the conversation ever turned to firearms.
‘I already knew he had a gun licence,’ he said. ‘He told everyone and he was really really proud of that.
‘It was the only time you really saw any kind of emotion from him and his eyes lit up when he talked about guns and he was animated when he spoke about them.’
Rishy says he had no real interest in firearms and their conversations never went into detail about how often Akram practised shooting, the types of weapons he owned or where he went to train.
But he vividly remembers the day a former Australian Olympian joined their crew as a subcontractor.
Bricklayer Rishy was Akram’s supervisor on a contract at the Crows Nest Metro Station
Akram was proud of his gun prowess
The cafe in North Sydney where the pair went for breakfast every morning
‘The guy talked about competing, you could tell the guy was really proud of his medals and he showed everyone a video of him on a shooting range,’ said Rishy.
‘Nav watched the video too and then said, “I can shoot better than that.”
‘Everyone just kind of laughed really and that’s probably the first time I saw Nav smile, but it wasn’t really a smile – it was more of a smirk.
‘I guess we thought it was a joke really – this guy was an Olympic medal winner and Nav was smirking at it.’
Rishy says nothing had prepared him for what unfolded at Bondi Beach.
‘When I saw the first images on social media I thought, that guy looks familiar, but I didn’t say anything straight away because I couldn’t quite believe it,’ he added.
‘Then hours later when his photo was in the news, I was just so shocked, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
‘I couldn’t sleep.’
The following day, Rishy contacted former workmates to see if they had seen the coverage.
‘We talked about it,’ he said. ‘We had conversations about it.’
The Akrams allegedly placed Islamic State flags across the front and rear windscreens
The pair allegedly threw homemade bombs into the crowd, including these two pipe bombs and and a tennis ball bomb
The Akrams also had another bomb in the boot of their Hyundai car parked nearby
Akram shed his quiet image on the construction site when he suddenly exploded at a co-worker over a religious comment.
‘One day when they were putting up scaffolding, one of the guys said something about God,’ revealed Rishy.
‘I don’t know exactly what was said but Nav just lost it.
‘He took offence and just snapped at the guy, yelling that you should never speak about a god like that.
‘It was just boom – and the devil came out. Everyone was shocked.
‘The guy never really spoke, but just as quickly as he exploded, he calmed down as if nothing had even happened.’
The incident rattled the crew and when a contract in Newcastle came up that required workers to stay overnight in an Airbnb, some refused to share a room with him.
‘The boss asked the guy he had clashed with and he said no way,’ he said.
Naveed Akram and his father Sajid are allegedly pictured during the Bondi massacre in a court-released image
Akram was renowned on the construction site as the odd young worker
‘The worker that did share with him said if he ever got up in the night to go to the bathroom, Nav was just sitting there each time, bolt upright, praying.
‘He wouldn’t sleep and the guy was spooked, he’d say, ‘Nav mate, it’s 2am – get some sleep” but he didn’t.
‘It’s just really hit home, like a lightning bolt.’
