One of the hostages runs towards police from a cafe in the central business district of Sydney on December 15, 2014. Five people ran out of a Sydney cafe where a gunman has taken hostages and displayed an Islamic flag against the window, witnesses and police said December 15, adding that no one has yet been harmed. ; Credit: SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images
16 hours after an armed man took hostages at gunpoint at the Lindt Chocolate Café in Sydney, Australia, police stormed the building and brought the standoff to an end on Monday morning. Reports this morning suggest that two people were killed during the standoff along with the gunman.
Media reports suggest there were about 10 staff members in the cafe when the gunman went in. Five people were seen running from the fire exit over the course of the standoff. It is thought that the suspect chose this particular cafe because it is a stone’s throw away from the newsroom of Channel Seven, Australia’s most-watched commercial broadcaster.
Australian media have identified the gunman as Han Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee who had been convicted previously of sending threatening letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. He was also charged last year with being an accessory to his ex-wife’s murder.
How can the U.S. prepare itself for lone wolf attacks like this? Are suspects in these incidents usually the same kind of person: a troubled outsider with little or nothing to lose? What can individuals and businesses do to protect themselves?
Guests:
Lisa Davies, Deputy News Editor, Sydney Morning Herald who's been following the story for the paper. She tweets @lisazdavies
Jay Kopstein, former Deputy Chief for the New York Police Department (NYPD) who retired in 2010 after 37 years of police service; for the last 12 years of his police career he was assigned to Operations Division and was involved in the planning and coordination of most large special events and significant incidents in New York City