This was an isolated incident. It is an isolated incident. Do not let this sort of incident bring about any loss of confidence about working or visiting in our city. Hello, im joy reid and this is the reid report. We begin on this monday with breaking news. Officials in sydney, australia, have wrapped up a News Conference following the dramatic end to a 16hour standoff. Officials confirmed there were 17 hostages, 2 were killed, as a result of, quote, actions inside a cafe. Officials confirmed the gunman was shot and killed when he stormed the Lindt Chocolate cafe in downtown sid sni. A number of hostages were taken out on stretches and transported to ambulances to a range of sydney hospitals. Earlier as we watched the tense standoff play out on tv, several hostages were able to escape on foot. Lets bring in qutd daily beat contributor courtney who lives in sydney. Yes, im here. After how long did police finally go into that cafe which i understand is in the downtown financial district of sydney. It was located in sydneys central as to the situation, it escalated fairly quickly just after 2 00 in the morning when everyone had gone home. Its still unclear if this is something that was an operation or if they were responding to something that happened inside, but it certainly was the right time to go in considering the rest of the district was completely dead. Do we know how many do we know how many hostages were initially taken . They still have not confirmed how many hostages were initially taken. Five did escape yesterday. There are reports of up to at least six that were able to escape just before the police stormed the cafe. Were now learning but were still unsure. Tell us a little about the raid and sort of how it played out. Sure. Again, it escalated very quickly. The media was reporting images of a man running out of the cafe followed by a few other people. As i said, at least six people. And the police shortly after went in. There was gunfire or some sort of explosives. You could see pops of light coming out of the front window of the cafe. And probably transpired for probably another 15 to 20 seconds. There was a second wave, again, with gunfire. And, again, at that point ambulances rushed to the scene and paramedics began taking out some of the hostages on gurneys. Thank you very much to courtney from the daily beast. For more on the gunman were joined by nbcs jim massceda. We understand that there were regular phone calls into British Intelligence agencies in london and other western capitals to try to find out what more could be gleaned about this individual and whether this could be part of an international plot. Now that its over, all signs are pointing to a man acting really on his own and not as part of any jihadist or terrorist organization. Joy, he is somebody with a very long police record. Australian Police Sources saying that he was approximately 50 years old, an iranian immigrant, with a very troubled and criminal past. His name Man Haron Monis, but on his website he went by the name of sheikh haron, sheikh in this sense meaning cleric or spiritual leader. Haron was apparently out on bail facing charges in australia on at least a dozen Sexual Assault cases. He was also found guilty back in 2012 for rioting and mailing hate letters, i suppose you would call them, to families of at least eight australian soldiers killed in action in afghanistan. And he was also charged or faced charges in connection with the murder of his exwife. He was in court, joy, only three days ago, on friday, where he reportedly failed in what was seemed to be his last legal challenge to lift some of those charges. He apparently turned increasingly angry and frustrated against the police or if he was a socalled lone wolf carrying out, you know, a vague order to attack australians. And, perhaps, motivated by extremist groups like isis. But for now, police are calling it a oneoff isolated incident. Joy, back to you. Nbcs jim maceda, thanks very much. Now to the white house and nbc Senior Correspondent jchris jansing. How has the president been monitoring the siege in australia . Reporter lisa monaco has been getting regular updates to him. Shes been the point person here with Australian Authorities. No word on whether shes been talking to other allies. As you know, when these things begin, and before its known who the perpetrator is, how widespread the plot might be, even if it is a plot or lone gunman, certain Standard Operating Procedures go into place. First of which is protecting americans on the ground and the u. S. Consulate was evacuated there, although some members were taken to a secure location so they could continue to work. Conversations with the australians. What kind of help, what kind of aid might they want from the United States . That was offered by lisa monaco in a phone call overnight. And finally, what are the implications here at home . Of course, now that its over, there is no heightened security concern, but, again, certain procedures go into play. Homeland security procedures, that if there was a concern, that this could be part of something larger, protections would go into place. There are people at Homeland Security who would be in touch not just with other countries and not just with federal officials but, of course, state and federal officials here. Chris jansing at the white house, thanks. Jim cavanaugh is a former Hostage Negotiator for the atf and also an msnbc analyst. We are learning more about the status of the potential victims. Were also learning that the gunman apparently is dead, jim. In a situation like this, is the threat assessment being made whether or not this person is acting alone . Thats more important, i would assume, than trying to figure out what his ideology is. Exactly. Just building on what chris said, the Intelligence Community and Law Enforcement across the world is looking at all those issues. Is he connected, did he have any contacts in the jihadi world of syria or lebanon, pakistan, but it doesnt seem to be that right now. All terrorists are criminals and many criminals become terrorists. Can you look at zarqawi, the leader of al qaeda in iraq, who was really a criminal all his life and then he gravitated into the terrorist world. Motives can be mixed. Its not just, youre only a terrorist or only a criminal. The motives flow in and out of a human complicated range. Most can be mixed. This guy looks like hes a criminal but hes also an extremist, writing letters to the families of australian military. So, hes motivated by political issues. So, by definition, he is a terrorist. And he is, from what we know, joy, in the reporting is hes acting alone so far. So, lets talk now about that raid to end this siege, this many hours long standoff. When you look back, and weve watched several times the video of police storming into that building and ending this hostage situation. Just looking at it from a tactical point of view, was that the right way to go . You know, i think absolutely the right decision. I think the dynamics changed inside. We dont know the reason they changed. Could the hostage taker have heard Police Movement somewhere and started to change something . Could he have on his own started to separate the hostages, maybe planning to kill some . Could some have tried to escape or overpower him . At some point the dynamics inside changed and those five or six ran out and then the onscene commander had to make a decision. He made a decision to launch the emergency assault plan. He sent the team in. You hear flash bangs, deployed, multiflash bangs are dispersed and then gunfire. We know they engaged the gunman because hes dead and one or more Australian Police officers was hit. We knew they exchanged gunfire. They did their flash bangs. They did the best they can do. Nobody can do better than what they do right there. Thats the best that can be done. Jim, we saw over the course of this standoff that there are people running out, people actually running out of building. When people are in a situation like this, the Old Fashioned advice was to comply. Is the new advice to try to free yourself, to try to run . Whenever you can escape, you have a very large individual decision to make. Its not to say you should always run because you could get shot in the back. But you have an individual decision to make. Can i get out . Flight, can i flee . You know, should i fight . Its hard to tell people you should always do something because its never always right. So, you have to assess the situation, always keep your wits about you. If theres a chance to get away, you might to want take it. You want to be careful, too, because you could be shot in the back. Authorities are there, theyre watching, listening and theyll be ready to move at the first opportunity they get. Jim cavanaugh, thanks very much. Thanks, joy. Were also following breaking developments in this hour outside philadelphia where at least five people have been killed in a shooting spree and the suspected killer is still at large. Police discovered the victims all shot at close range in three separate locations this morning. S. W. A. T. Teams have now surrounded a home where the suspect, described has a military veteran, has barricaded himself. Some homes in the area have been evacuated and residents are being told to stay inside. And our coverage out of sydney continues as well look at lone wolf attacks. How do counterterrorism officials respond to similar situations here at home . What does todays standoff mean in the fight against the coalition of isis . Kinda were new to the pacific northwest. The rain, the mudbabam its there. The outside comes in. doorbell its a Swiffer Wetjet oh, i love this i could do this everyday. Ewww. Sunshine is overrated, now we can get messy. Ring ring . 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Michael kay is a former senior british senior and laith alkhouri is a Senior Analyst at flashpoint global partners. Were hearing more about this person who calls himself a sheikh, Man Haron Monis. I want to talk about this convergence who someone who might be motivated to criminal behavior or someone who has greater motivations and tie themselves to jihadism. Sure. Theres been a number of cases where lone wolf or potential lone wolf attacks. Some of them have failed. They were carried out by, you know, former felons. People who broke the law over and over again. Im not labeling this as specifically a lone wolf operation, but having a criminal record does not really surprise me. He seems to have been prone to violence, prone to cheating, prone to lying, so on, so forth. You know, michael, theres a piece today that talks about the fact that western governments are sort of prime to think about the people who want to participate in jihad, where they fly off to syria, participate, and then come back. What people are not necessarily paying attention to is those who maybe cant afford the ticket but are at home. They say theres a clear connection, not organizational, but inspiration between men such as hassan, the man who shot 13 people dead in ft. Hood, the brothers in boston, et cetera, there are people who may not be actualized but may still act in these ways. Look, the American Defense budget announced last week that it was spending 585 billion on defense. 67. 5 billion on military operations abroad. What i would really like to see is the answer to this problem is not bullets, mortars, bombs and rockets. The answer is understanding the ideology on what turns people. Did someone is a lone wolf, part of a terror network, very sophisticated of al qaeda or appear rative, it doesnt matter. The end result is the same. What this guy has done is manage to tie up news cable channels for 24 hours, which is the biggest propaganda took isis could ask for. And he didnt actually kill a hostage himself. There did seem to be a very strategic selection of a place downtown, in sydney, in the financial district, in sort of a square where there are lots and lots of cameras, where hell get lots and lots of attention. Even if this person might not have been motivated by sort of a greater jihadi message, would his attack then be usable by these groups regardless whether his attack was successful or failed, it will be used by whether jihadists or official propaganda of terrorist groups. But i think the point here choosing that specific location, is intended to influence public opinion. Specifically australias engagement. This goes on to, you know, studying the tweets he put out to his official twitter account, indicating hes in favor of the Islamic State, acknowledges the leader of the Islamic State as cleric, oman, and accuses Australian Authorities of torture in prisons. So, he seemed to have a few political grievances that probably he failed to express early on and this is probably his only way of expressing them after details of doing that before. In that case, michael, were talking about a 50yearold man who moved to australia several years ago. Lets talk about in the Bigger Picture because what you all see in some of these cases are people who are first, maybe second generation, whether in britain, whether in australia, programs even the United States, whose ideology might be attached to the country they live in and its involvement in fighting isis. Sort of that kind of motivation. So, is there any way that western governments can root that kind of a person out, to locate them before they act . I think so. What youre talking about is theres a spectrum here. Youre talking about how someone becomes disenfranchised in the u. S. , in the uk n europe. What is it about a muslim within the city, in the eastern london subur suburbs, that makes them unhappy . Whats been preached by the imams in the mosques . The uk has a strategy that goes in, trying to prevent that. Coming back to this guy, hes from iran. An iran yeian shia. What i think is a little unusual about this is youve got someone from iran, which is historically tied to the shia sect which has the proxy force hezbollah, which has been fighting in syria against jihad and militants yet someone from aus eye ran has come to australia and is a sympathizers so kind of a minority from iran. Thats what i find fascinating. The only group im aware of that operates in iran is jindulah. So this is what i find intriguing. You have iran being very vocal gent isis, antiisis. This makes it almost impossible. You know, he did indicate on his twitter account that he is not a shiite. That he likely has converted. So, hes a sunni in his own eyes and in the eyes of those he supported. He did condemn Syrian Regime. So, in a way he did express that he does stand against the Syrian Regime and that he is pretty much a sunni muslim, prosuna grievances. In that aspect, i would differentiate him from the sunni groups that are operating in iran. In this sense, it appears he has been just radicalized by the Foreign Policy in the middle east. Australia is very much obviously involved in the west. Michael kay, welcome to the program. Hope to have you back soon. Laith alkhouri, one of our perennial favorites. Looking at how the hostage situation in australia played out on social media. Jooishgsz. The getaway vehicle for all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. 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