A fruit shop owner who wrestled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen in an incredible act of bravery that gave people time to escape is being heralded as a hero.

Sixteen people are dead after two shooters fired into a Bondi park from a footbridge on Sunday night, as people screamed and sprinted for cover.

In an act that may have prevented more deaths, one of the gunmen was disarmed and prevented from firing further shots into the crowd.

Footage of the altercation shows a bystander, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, crouching behind a parked car in the Campbell Parade car park.

He then sneaks up behind the gunman before wrestling the firearm from his grip in the potentially fatal tussle.

The altercation sends the man who had previously held the gun staggering to the ground. He then gets up and walks towards the carpark bridge overpass, where another shooter was continuing to fire.

A bystander managed to wrestle the gun from one of the shooters. Photo: X

The video appears to be taken by an occupant filming from an apartment overlooking the scene.

Seven News spoke to a relative who identified the hero as 43-year-old Ahmed Al Ahmed.

The male relative said Ahmed was in hospital after being shot in the shoulder and hand.

“He’s in hospital and we don’t know exactly what’s going on inside,” the man named Mustafa told Seven.

“We do hope he will be fine. He’s a hero 100 per cent.”

The citizen hero snatched the gun away. Photo: X

While many have praised Ahmed’s actions in intervening as an act of bravery that may have saved lives, others are asking why police action wasn’t so swift.

Grace Matthews was heading to the beach to join the Chanukah by the Sea event when she heard shots being fired and sheltered in a church.

“One of my friends was at the festival [and] he said the police were just very underprepared to respond to this kind of a threat,” Matthews told ABC News.

“That was why it required a member of the public, like a civilian, to neutralise one of the threats.”

“This should never be a situation where a member of the public — or even a plainclothes policeman — is in a shootout with an active gunman.

“There’s a police station less than a block from where the shooting was happening … it’s beyond my understanding as to why it took so long to handle.”

Authorities have since described the incident as a terrorist attack, targeting Sydney’s Jewish community.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said he was “incredibly proud” of the force’s response.

“They have done a fantastic job, and unfortunately, after the Westfield Bondi Junction attack, we have learned a lot and tonight ambulance and police and other responders acted promptly and professionally to do a great job,” he said.

-with AAP