Yahoo Lifestyle Sydney hostage drama comes to a tragic end
A woman is carried to safety by police outside the Lindt Cafe in Sydney's Martin Place following yesterday's hostage situation. Photo: Getty Images
Yesterday's hostage situation at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney's Martin Place which broke out just before 10am, has come to a tragic end, with three lives lost, including the gunman, who has been identified as Man Haron Monis.
It has since been confirmed the identities of the two hostages who lost their lives, 38-year-old mother-of-three Katrina Dawson, and the cafe's manager, 34-year-old Tori Johnson.
Police released a statement early this morning stating confirming that three people had died and four more were injured during the events that took place just after 2am this morning.
The statement read:
About 2.10am (Tuesday 16 December), a confrontation occurred between police and a man who had taken a number of people hostage inside a café on Martin Place. Shots were fired during the confrontation. As a result, the 50-year-old man was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. Another man, aged 34, and a woman, aged 38, were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. Two women have been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while a male police officer suffered a non-life threatening wound to his face from gunshot pellets and was taken to hospital. Another woman has been taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to her shoulder. A 35-year-old woman was taken to hospital as a precaution.
Police outside the Lindt Cafe in Sydney's Martin Place during yesterday's siege. Photo: Getty Images
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has expressed his sadness over the situation and sent his deepest condolences to the families of the hostages as well as thanking the NSW police and emergency services for their brave work to bring this dramatic situation to an end.
Australians awoke to the news this morning that the siege in Martin Place has ended. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two deceased hostages, the wounded and the other hostages. I commend the courage and professionalism of the New South Wales Police and other emergency services involved.
NSW Premier Mike Baird spoke with a 'heavy heart' at a press conference this morning.
"In the past 24 hours this city has been shaken by a tragedy that none of us could have ever imagined. Today we must come together as never before.
"We are stronger together. We will get through this.
"The events that we have seen have shaken us, but they do not dampen our resolve."
Amongst all the fear and talk of terrorism that surrounded yesterday's events, in an inspiring show of solidarity, Australian's banded together to stand against any anti-Muslim hatred that ensued.
The nation united as #illridewithyou went viral with over 120,000 tweets in the first few hours. Photo: Twitter
The hashtag #illridewithyou quickly went viral after a young Sydney woman shared a story on social media.
Rachael Jacobs posted a moving status on her Facebook account which read: "...and the (presumably) Muslim woman sitting next to me on the train silently removes her hijab.
"I ran after her at the train station. I said 'put it back on. I'll walk with u'. She started to cry and hugged me for about a minute - then walked off alone."
The #illridewithyou was trending worldwide, within hours it had over 120,000 tweets.
Rachael Jacobs again took to Facebook, writing that she was 'completely overwhelmed' by the response.
"Mine was a very brief encounter - a small gesture to a stranger in response to the sadness that I felt that someone would ever feel unsafe or unwelcome because of their beliefs," she wrote.
