With two hostages and gunman dead, grim investigation starts in Sydney
By Michael
Pearson, Jethro Mullen and Anna Coren, CNN
Updated 0327 GMT (1127 HKT) December 16, 2014
The deadly siege of a central Sydney cafe has ended
but the investigation is just beginning.
Australian authorities stormed the cafe where a self-styled Muslim cleric had been holding hostages early
Tuesday, killing the gunman. They moved in some 16 hours after the siege began,
after hearing gunfire inside the Lindt Chocolate Cafe, New South Wales police
Commissioner Andrew P. Scipione told reporters.
Two of the 17 hostages initially held by the gunman
died, according to Scipione. They were later identified as Katrina Dawson, 38,
and Tori Johnson, 34. Other people were injured, including a police officer who
suffered a wound to the face from gunshot pellets. All were described by police
to be in stable condition.
"Understandably, there is a lot of speculation, but
it will take time to clarify exactly what happened ... and why," Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters Tuesday.
Man Haron Monis.
What did the gunman want? Why did he choose the cafe
as his target?
"There is nothing more Australian than dropping in
at the local cafe for a morning coffee, and it's tragic beyond words that people
going about their everyday business should have been caught up in such a
horrific incident," Abbott said.
He offered his condolences to people caught in the
attack and to their loved ones.
"These events do demonstrate that even a country as
free as open as generous and as safe as ours is vulnerable to acts of
politically motivated violence," the Prime Minister said. "But they also remind
us that Australia, and Australians are resilient and we are ready to
respond."
Gunman had violent history
Gunman had violent history
The gunman was identified as Man Haron Monis by an
official with direct knowledge of the situation. According to his social media
posts, the hostage-taker appears to have embraced a radical Sunni theology.
Abbott told reporters that the gunman was already
well-known to authorities, and that he had a "long history of violent crime,
infatuation with extremism and mental instability."
Before the raid, Monis had demanded a flag and phone
call with 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.
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 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 a 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.
A national security source in the United States said
that a team of Australian special forces troops and police had entered the Lindt
Chocolate Cafe from two directions and killed the gunman.
Video captured medics working on some people and
others being carried away on stretchers.
On Tuesday, the hostages who died were identified as
Dawson and Johnson.
"Katrina was one of our best and brightest
barristers who will be greatly missed by her colleagues and friends at the NSW
Bar," the New South Wales Bar Association said in a statement. "She was a
devoted mother of three children and a valued member of her floor and of our bar
community. Our thoughts are with her family at this time."
Johnson's family also released a statement. It read,
in part: "We are so proud of our beautiful boy Tori, gone from this Earth but
forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we
could ever wish for."
Structure of the Lead：
WHO-two hostages and gunman
WHEN-
WHAT-dead
WHY-
WHERE-
HOW-not given
Keywords：
1.stormed 衝
2.siege 圍城
3.speculation 推測
4.unshaven 未修面的
5.stretchers 擔架
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