The heart of Australia’s biggest city was locked down and thousands of office workers were evacuated or kept trapped in their buildings after a gunman stormed the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in the CBD about 9.40am.
The man, understood to be a fringe Islamist, is understood to have taken about 20 people hostage, a figure that dropped by five after three men and two women fled the cafe into the arms of heavily armed assault police. It is understood they were not released by the gunman but had escaped. One of the remaining hostages was last night identified as an Infosys worker.
The gunman, who arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1996, achieved notoriety after he sent letters to the families of Diggers who lost their lives in Afghanistan, accusing them of being murderers.
In November last year, he was charged with being an *accessory before and after the fact to the murder of his ex-wife, who was allegedly stabbed and set alight in her apartment complex. In March, he was charged with sexually and indecently assaulting a young woman in 2002.
As police negotiators settled in for a night talking to the man, sources close to the incident urged caution in labelling the attack as one organised or inspired by al-Qa’ida or any similar terrorist group, such as Islamic State. Instead, they painted a picture of an unstable individual well known to NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police and whose moti*vations were not *entirely clear.