COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — A Texas A&M campus rabbi's son is recovering after being seriously wounded in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia on Sunday that killed 15 people and wounded dozens more.
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Rabbi Leibel Lazaroff, son of Texas A&M campus rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, was shot twice in the abdomen and leg during the attack. He was in critical condition in the ICU but has since improved significantly, his brother said.
"I'm happy to announce that as of a few hours ago, he woke up and he's fully coherent and everything, which is great," said Rabbi Menachem Lazaroff, Leibel's brother.
Leibel Lazaroff had recently become a rabbi and was in Sydney on a mission trip, volunteering for a year to join the local community there.
"My brother was actually there in Sydney. He just became a rabbi a few months ago, and he was there. He volunteered a year to join the community there, so he was one of the organizers of the event," Menachem Lazaroff said.
The Lazaroff family arrived in College Station in 2007 to establish the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center. Menachem Lazaroff said the family has been overwhelmed by the community support they've received.
"And just see people from all over the community, from our local Jewish community, as well as just friends from around town who all came together in solidarity and we obviously really appreciate the outpouring of love and support we've been getting," he said.
The attack has left the family struggling to understand such violence during a religious celebration.
"How could someone have so much hate in their heart to be able to do something like that? It really boggles the mind, people just coming together, celebrating their holiday, lighting the menorah," Menachem Lazaroff said.
As his brother continues to recover, Menachem Lazaroff asked the community to keep the victims in their thoughts.
"Again, it means so much to have Leibel and the other victims in your prayers. Keep doing those, keep doing those good deeds, keep being good upstanding people. That's all we can ask for, for sure," he said.
The attack is Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years. Authorities are investigating it as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
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