Three dead after police end standoff with extremist in Sydney

Three people died and four were injured during the dramatic finale of a 16-hour standoff between police and a terrorist in a Sydney business district today. Local media have identified the attacker as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian-born man with Islamist ideology. Monis took 17 people hostage inside the Lindt Chocolat Cafe around 9:45 a.m. local time.

Police surrounded the cafe and shut down Martin Place, a high-traffic commercial area that is home to the Reserve Bank of Australia and the state premier’s office. Reporters from Seven Network television watched most of the day’s events from their offices on the fourth floor of a building across the street from the cafe. Throughout the day, hostages stood in the cafe’s front window, some of them holding a flag with the “shahada,” or Islamic declaration of faith, written on it.

At the end of the standoff, bystanders heard a loud bang and five people ran out of the cafe. Police then entered the building amid gunfire. When it stopped, Monis and two hostages—a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman—were dead. Police said they believed no one had been injured up until that point. They did not say whether the injuries and deaths were caused by Monis or if the hostages were caught in crossfire. One of the wounded was a police officer.

“They made the call because they believed that at that time, if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost,” New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said.

Police have not commented on Monis’ motives, though he did make demands during the standoff. Channel 10 news in Sydney said it received a video in which a hostage said what Monis wanted, but it did not air the video at the request of police. Monis was remembered by those who knew him as a rogue evildoer. He had previously been charged with writing offensive letters to the families of dead soldiers, being an accessory to his wife’s murder, and multiple counts of sexual assault. Monis’ former lawyer, Manny Conditsis, called him a “damaged-goods individual,” saying, “His ideology is just so strong and so powerful that it clouds his vision for common sense and objectiveness.”

Monis was particularly disturbed by his conviction in the letter-writing incident. He had made attempts to appeal the case in Australian court. The Guardian reported Monis has just been rejected again in court on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.