Bondi Beach shooting: NSW Premier Chris Minns visits hero Ahmed Al Ahmed in hospital

NSW Premier Chris Minns visited Ahmed Al Ahmed — the hero who wrestled a weapon from one of the Bondi Beach shooters — in hospital on Monday.

The 43-year-old has been in St George Hospital in Sydney’s south receiving treatment for the multiple gunshot wounds he sustained during the horrific attack on Sunday.

Mr Minns posted a photo with Ahmed on Instagram Monday night, thanking the “real-life hero” for his brave actions.

“Ahmed is a real-life hero. Last night, his incredible bravery no doubt saved countless lives when he disarmed a terrorist at enormous personal risk,” Mr Minns wrote.

“It was an honour to spend time with him just now and to pass on the thanks of people across NSW.

“There is no doubt that more lives would have been lost if not for Ahmed’s selfless courage.

“Thank you, Ahmed.”

Mr Ahmed woke from surgery a hero with an outpour of community support, with more than $1.7 million raised on a GoFundMe page.

In just 17 hours, the fundraiser for the father of two daughters — aged three and six — was launched by with a $50,000 donation from Car Hub Australia.

Later, billionaire Jewish investment banker Bill Ackman forked out $99,999 in support of Mr Ahmed.

More than 16,400 people have contributed so far.

Mr Ahmed’s parents said Mr Ahmed would have done anything to protect anyone.

“When he did what he did, he wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, the people dying in the street,” Mr Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Fateh Al Ahmed, told the ABC.

“He doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another. Especially here in Australia, there’s no difference between one citizen and another.”

Mr Al Ahmed’s cousin Mustafa Al-Asaad said the bystander-turned-hero was shot in his left shoulder and hand.

Mr Al-Asaad recounted his cousin, an Australian citizen originally from Syria, telling him that “God granted me courage to jump on the gunman”.

“He wasn’t thinking of death when he saw bullets flying in the air,” Mr Al Asaad told BBC Arabic overnight.

Donald Trump described Mr Ahmed as a “very, very brave person” and said his actions undoubtedly “saved a lot of lives”.