Police storm cafe in bloody end to Sydney hostage siege

Police storm cafe in bloody end to Sydney hostage siege

15 hour long siege ends in violent hail of gunfire

A violent exchange of gunfire took place as Police in Sydney stormed a café where a man was holding hostages for more than 15 hours Monday. Resulting in the gunman being shot by SWAT team members.

The dramatic ending took place shortly after 2 am when, according to Sydney’s Seven Network, early reports indicate that officers saw a hostage “fall,”police fearing the gunman had shot a hostage then moved on the cafe. Officers threw flash bang grenades as they stormed through the front doors of the Lindt Chocolate café in downtown Sydney. A fierce gun battle then ensued as multiple gun shots could be being heard echoing in the streets.

Shortly after, hostages began to run out of the front door of the café. Police officers quickly rushed the hostages off the street to safety. Police then emerged from the building carrying a female who had an obvious injury to her foot. Paramedics could be seen rushing a victim into an ambulance while performing CPR. There are early reports from multiple media outlets of two fatalities and up to five injured.

The drama began Monday morning when Sydney police received reports of a “suspicious bag” on the street in downtown Sydney. A short time later the gunman, armed with a shotgun, walked into the café taking approximately 20 hostages.

According to media reports, the gunman, identified as Man Haron Monis, was an Iranian national born Manteghi Bourjerdi who migrated to Australia in 1996 claiming political persecution. Monis, a self-proclaimed muslim cleric, was well known to Australian authorities, having several convictions for sexual assault. He was reportedly under investigation for attempting to hire a hit man to kill his wife.

As police and SWAT teams converged on the area Monis reportedly made demands for an ISIS flag to be delivered to him. He also reportedly wanted to speak with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Monis visibly armed, also claimed to have several bombs and claimed there were other devices strategically placed in the city.

Monis forced hostages to stand in front of the large plate glass windows of the cafe. During the siege he even made hostages hold up a black flag with Islamic writing on it. Several hours into the siege five hostages were able to escape out of a side door.

Monis also had hostages make videos with their cell phones, which he posted on You Tube. The popular media sharing site quickly took these posting down. Monis then had a hostage call a popular radio show to get his demands out. The Radio Host, Ray Hadly, told CNN he could hear the gunman in the background yelling instructions to the hostage.

In postings on his facebook page he criticized the U.S. military air strikes on ISIS. Australian fighter jets are part of the campaign against the terror group. It does appear that Monis was not affiliated with any known terror organization. It is still unclear on the motive behind his actions.

Police had reportedly planned to negotiate and “wait out” the gunman. Hoping that after many hours he would tire and simply give up.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *