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Down Under
Lawyer says gunman fired at hostages in Sydney cafe, but missed
2016-03-23
[Indian Express] The man behind a deadly siege at a Sydney cafe fired at some of the hostages as they escaped but missed, possibly because of his limited experience with guns, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Self-declared Muslim holy man Man Haron Monis took customers and staff at the upmarket Lindt cafe hostage on December 15, 2014, bringing the Martin Place financial district in Australia’s largest city to a standstill.

As the siege dragged on into the early hours of December 16, he became more erratic. When six hostages ran for a door he fired his shotgun, an act which was seen as a warning shot at the time.

"It now appears that although his shot missed, the very strong inference is that Monis was shooting at the hostages," counsel assisting the inquiry, Sophie Callan, told the inquest.

"The fact that he missed by some margin is consistent with him having limited experience with guns and with the difficulty of aiming his sawn-off shotgun, plus the suddenness of the escape."

The inquest was told that police had hoped to "contain and negotiate" with Monis, who was armed with the gun and thought to have a bomb in his backpack. It was later discovered to be fake.

Monis, who had asked police for an Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
flag but was refused, held the hostages for some 17 hours -- over which time five escaped, including two without his notice.

By the time the six others ran for their lives at 2:03am on December 16, he still had not hurt anyone.

But not long afterwards, he ordered cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, to get on to his knees and put his hands on his head. Minutes later he shot him dead.

The shooting prompted tactical police to storm the building. Monis and hostage Katrina Dawson, a 38-year-old barrister and mother-of-three, were killed in the firing.
Posted by:Fred

#2  That is so much better than not have brought the gun and not have aimed, no?

Go fuck yourselves.
Posted by: newc   2016-03-23 01:07  

#1  Not guilty by reason of lousy aim?
Posted by: charger   2016-03-23 00:14  

00:00