Hostages taken in Lindt Chocolate shop by armed robber (Sydney Australia, ISIS flag seen displayed)

news.com.au ^ | 15th December 2014

[naturalman1975]

A hostage has been forced to hold up an Islamic State flag in the window of a shop in Martin Place that is currently under siege.

It is believed there are 12 hostages in the store and an ISIS flag has been placed in the window.

Martin Place is the main financial area of the Sydney CBD.

[xp38]

No his wife was in the hospital and he had to visit her as he wanted to remain married.

[Kackikat]

I hope he’s dead, or those poor hostages will have to relive this horror in a courtroom...seems wrong to victimize them twice.

[rottndog]

Heard it on local radio...could be wrong.

[eastforker]

Some full auto fired or multiple shooters simultaneously.

[MeshugeMikey]

Bet on his ;career having been cut short..... otherwise weve. had heard.

[mware]

Per Fox, terrorist shot first, either at police, or hostage. Triggered police SAS to act. Two hostages killed, 5 wounded.

[Toespi]

Greg Palkot reporting terrorist shot first, which precipitated the police action.

[MeshugeMikey]

The Bright Side!!

Thank you.

[mware]

He did a very good job keeping us informed about what was happening.

[MeshugeMikey]

from the tone of the police woman I saw interviewed last night I sense that they’re keeping this as low key as possible. I think they blew em away!

[CaptSkip]

So the video shows a breach team of about 10 moving to the opening, about 6 operators move into the cafe and engage the bad guy. About 4 team members remain back at the opening, and begin lobbing flash-bangs into the cafe, AFTER their team members moved into the cafe.

I thought flash-bangs were supposed to be used against the bad-guys to distract and disorient. Why throw flash-bangs into a space your fellow officers just entered?!

I counted the remaining officers throwing (rather girly like) 4-5 F-Bs directly following the entry team members.

What up with that?

[rottndog]

Drudge now reporting perp dead...

[eastforker]

Very well the perp was barricaded behind the counter and the FB’s were thrown behind that counter.

[Riley]

So the video shows a breach team of about 10 moving to the opening, about 6 operators move into the cafe and engage the bad guy. About 4 team members remain back at the opening, and begin lobbing flash-bangs into the cafe, AFTER their team members moved into the cafe.

I noticed the same thing! No idea if the hall forks or if there's more than one door in there, or what. You don't bang your own assault element!

[don-o]

Why throw flash-bangs into a space your fellow officers just entered?!

The layout of the space was certainly considered when setting the entrance plan. Maybe the first wave goes to a spot with cover before the flash bangs are inserted?

[Riley]

Guess we don’t know without knowing what exactly is on the other side of that door. Is it directly into the shop, or some kind of common access service area?

[CaptSkip]

Thank God the perp is dead. After 30 secs of full-auto weapons fire, you’d expect a few rounds to hit the mark!

[CDB]

Ferguson could take a serious lesson in what hands up really means!!!!

Yes! Your comment should be shouted from the rooftops, and made into one of those "viral hash-tags."

[Holdem Or Foldem]

Picture this: Assault team goes thru the door and advances into the building only to be shot in the back by bad guy concealed against the the wall they just passed. The initial team knows the flash bangs come right behind them to dis-orient anyone the may have passed. It’s possible that this is the swat teams strategy.

[don-o]

After 30 secs of full-auto weapons fire, you’d expect a few rounds to hit the mark!

Why the cynicism? Looks to me like the Aussies performed top rate.