Detective Senior Constable Cesar Barraza, credited with helping stop the Bondi Beach terror attack on 14 December, has revealed he ran towards the gunfire without his bulletproof vest, spare ammunition, body-worn camera or phone after hearing a colleague had been shot. His account, detailed in a new book, Bondi Terror by Alex Ryvchin and Sharri Markson, highlights the split-second bravery of first responders during Australia's deadliest mass shooting since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which left 15 people dead.

Barraza, a 16-year police veteran who had been posted to Bondi only six weeks earlier, took cover behind a tree roughly 40 metres from two alleged gunmen near Bondi Pavilion and fired the shot that killed Sajid Akram, 50, before exchanging fire with the accused's son, Naveed Akram, who was eventually shot and apprehended. Barraza later discovered he had just three bullets left in his magazine when the exchange ended. Naveed Akram now faces 78 charges, including 15 counts of murder and 43 of attempted murder, with more than 8,000 witness statements and pieces of evidence lodged in the case against him.