Well, recognizing that I have no standing to judge, I do have my opinions from watching the coverage. Last night I was already thinking, “What are they waiting for?” Here you have people scampering out of the place! The CNN desk was showing a spokeswoman saying that their hope was to end the thing with NO VIOLENCE. Well, how about a little violence? Like one bullet. That’s all that was needed. I guess they didn’t have that in their arsenal.
Just consider that this civilian hostage got tired of waiting before the police did. THEN they went in. This is in fact what they were waiting for ... mayhem.
Even for a highly trained sniper shooting through heavy plate glass like a shop window is not a straightforward shot. When the person you are shooting at may have a bomb vest with a dead man switch trigger and is surrounded by a dozen innocent people, it's not something you do.
You were watching - did you notice the big shield the police were standing behind. That was because of the risk of explosives. It wasn't for show.
Two dead is bad. But it's a lot better than ten or more dead.