Gunman, two others dead in Sydney siege, police say
Australian authorities stormed the cafe where a self-styled Muslim cleric had been holding hostages early Tuesday, killing the gunman and ending a crisis that had paralyzed central Sydney for hours.
They moved in more than
16 hours after the siege began, only after hearing gunfire inside the
Lindt Chocolate Cafe, New South Wales police Commissioner Andrew P.
Scipione told reporters Tuesday.
Two of the 17 hostages initially held by the gunman died, according to Scipione.
A police officer suffered a wound to the face from gunshot pellets. He was expected to recover, police said.
"This will not change the things that we hold dear in this country," Scipione said.
Man Haron Monis.
The gunman had been identified earlier as Man Haron Monis by an official with direct knowledge of the situation.
The raid ended the
standoff but left many other questions unanswered: What did the gunman
want? Why did he choose the cafe as his target? And was he acting alone?
Before the raid, Monis
had demanded a flag and phone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, CNN
affiliate Sky News Australia reported. He made the demands through
hostages who contacted media organizations, Sky News reported.
Some hostages had also
reportedly posted messages to social networking sites and the YouTube
online video service. Police urged media early Tuesday not to show the
videos.
Monis, also known as
Sheikh Haron, pleaded guilty in 2013 to writing letters to relatives of
Australian service members saying they were "Hitler's soldiers,"
according to Australian media reports.
He was believed to be
acting alone, and he didn't appear to be part of a broader plot,
additional U.S. law enforcement and intelligence sources said Monis.
Photos: Hostage situation in Sydney
How the siege unfolded
Hundreds of police
officers, including snipers, surrounded the cafe in Sydney's central
business district shortly after the gunman took over the building at 10
a.m. Monday (6 p.m. ET Sunday).
Chilling images from
Australian media on Monday showed people, believed to be hostages, with
their hands pressed against the cafe's windows. They were holding up a
black flag with Arabic writing on it reading, "There is no God but God
and Mohammed is the prophet of God."
Five hostages sprinted
out of the cafe toward heavily armed police officers several hours into
the standoff, sending the gunman into an agitated tirade, according to
an Australian reporter.
Chris Reason, a
correspondent for CNN affiliate Seven Network, said the gunman became
"extremely agitated" when he realized what had happened and "started
screaming orders" at the remaining hostages.
Reason said he could see
the gunman pacing past the cafe's windows from his vantage point at the
network's nearby offices. He described the man as unshaven, wearing a
white shirt and black cap and carrying a shotgun.
As night fell, lights went out in the cafe, Reason reported.
After a tense night,
police could be seen early Tuesday throwing flash-bang grenades into the
cafe in video aired by Seven Network.
Gunfire erupted amid the
chaos. After a brief episode of violence, the crisis appeared to ease,
with police officers assuming a more relaxed pose, according to
Australian media.
A national security
source in the United States said a team of Australian special forces
troops and police had entered the Lindt Chocolate Cafe from two
directions early Tuesday morning and killed the gunman.
Video captured medics working on some people and others being carried away in stretchers.
Australians worried
The hostage situation left Australians shaken.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called it "profoundly shocking" in a series of Tweets.
"It's been a difficult
day, which has tested us, but like Australians in all sorts of
situations, we have risen to the challenge," he said
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