from the police on exactly what the fallout was there, how many wounded, how many potentially dead, and what happened to that lone gunman. what we know at this point is there was a 16-hour saga in which that gunman held people hostage inside lindt cafe. that's right in the bustling heart of the city, martin place mall. we're getting new information about how things played out there. at this hour, a few facts we do know. we know a number of hostages escaped over the course of the siege, including a group i think we have footage of them breaking out of that setti inting throug side door. you see that woman appearing to be an employee of that lindt coffee shop. some were injured, we saw them taken from the scene on stretchers. we don't know the fate of the gunman, man haron monis. he's a self-declared cleric.

he has a known criminal record we'll get to in a moment. here is one witness who says he saw that gunman at the start of the standoff. >> yeah, i saw the gunman, and he was quite tall and maybe early 40s. he was very calm and just pacing. he was looking into the cafe. customers were sitting down at the tables, still drinking. but i'm not sure what was going to unfold. but they were locked in. >> joining me from martin place is nbc news correspondent sara james who's been following this throughout. sara, you live there. you know this setting. what is the scene like right now there as people wake up in sydney? >> reporter: well, i'm standing here right near martin place, about 200 yards away, and we're

still seeing passing by us the police vehicles. it is still very much an active scene, as they head to and fro the area where this hostage scene took place. and it's still a little bit early for life on the street, if you will, the people who will be coming to work in these office buildings. but when they come here, this is very much a vibrant center much the city. i mean, it's only about a five-minute stroll to the sydney opera house. i mean, this attack took place in the block next door to the u.s. consulate, and indeed the consul general was evacuated and moved, i was told by the embassy, to a secure location. i spoke to them. also, right across is the australian reserve bank. now, this is the equivalent of the federal reserve. so obviously that was another area where there was great concern. media interest here, our affiliate channel 7, is literally across from that cafe. in fact, they had to be evacu e

evacuated. many workers here were evacuated and others were put into a state of lockdown. we talked to people who said there was a loudspeaker announcement and they were told to stay at their desks, not to move. it was only later they were allowed to leave. all of this because the gunman had gone into that lindt chocolate cafe, lovely place in a bustling part of town, and taken 15 or 16 hostages there. several of them managed to escape. the first group was several people, then two more. that was about five hostages at that stage. and then, as things unfolded and night fell, it was quite sobering. we saw one hostage have to turn out the lights. but, as this was going on, there were conversations taking place where hostages pretty clearly at the behest of the gunman were being asked to reach out to media outlets and try and come forth with some demands, demands that he receive an isis flag and

he be allowed to speak to the prime minister. these were being passed through those conduits. then also later in press conferences we were hearing from the police, look, we're glad that no one has been harmed. but then just about a couple of hours ago a complete and dramatic change. we heard the sounds of those concussive explosions as they went in with the stun grenades, then several prolonged bursts of gunfire, and that was what brought this siege to an end. the police stormed the building, and we believe -- we'll learn more in a press conference that should happen momentarily -- there was one shot fired and police felt they had to rush in. four people were brought out on stretchers. the exact extent of their injuries we are waiting to learn, as we are waiting to learn the fate of the gunman. >> nbc's sara james, i know it's been a long evening there for you. thank you so much for that reporting. in the last few hours we have learned more about the suspect

in this hostage situation. he's described as a radical cleric, man haron monis. he also has a lengthy criminal history in australia joining me is jim maceda, who's following the criminal background of this individual. what do we know about his background and possible motivation? >> well, we understand there have been regular phone calls between british intelligence here in london and other western capitals as the siege unfolded to try to find out more and glean as much as possible about this individual. however, all signs are pointing to a man acting on his own and not as part of any terrorist orgy haor jihadist organization. he has a long police record, very well known to the australian police. sources say he's approximately 50 years old, an iranian immigrant, a troubled and criminal past. his name is man haron monis but

goes by the name or went by the name of sheikh heron, as in cleric or spiritual healer. haron was apparently facing charges on sexual assault cases and found guilty in 2012 for sending hate letters to families of at least australian soldiers killed in action in afghanistan. and he also faces -- or faced charges in connection with the murder of his ex-wife. now, he was in court only last friday, just three days ago, where he reportedly failed in his last legal challenge, if you will, to lift any of those charges. he became increasingly frustrated and angry with the government, with the police, not able, he said, to even see his children. but we still don't know if this was the act of someone who just went completely deranged and acted solely to get attention or if he was a so-called lone wolf

motivated by extremist groups like isis. >> those are perhaps some questions we will get more insights into in that press conference from police we're awaiting. nbc's jim maceda, thank you. >> you bet. back here in the u.s., the president was notified just in the early hours of this morning. he has been following this situation as well. joining me now nbc news chris jansing who is tracking the white house reaction. chris, what is happening right there at the white house now? are there communications going on between our government and the australian government? >> reporter: absolutely. the point person here is lisa monaco, his assistant for counterterrorism and homeland security. just minutes before we came here, the president lifted off in marine one. he is headed to give a speech to military families and members of the military in new jersey. we're not necessarily expecting any comments on this. but i can tell you there is a standard bracing procedure when something like this happens, especially in the early minutes

and early hours when we're trying to figure out exactly what's behind an act like this. and so lisa monaco, again, the liaison with the president and also with our allies in the australian government, including an offer of any help that we might provide, that was made earlier today. in addition to that, the question is, what about americans on the ground? and as we've been reporting throughout the day, americans who work in the consulate there were evacuated, some of them continuing to work at an undisclosed location. contact again with allies in general. you heard jim maceda talking about that in the uk. could this be part of a wider plot? is this something that is of increased concern in other countries, which as far as we know it obviously did not turn out to be? and could it even go to the level of raising the security threat, as we saw in the uk back in august when there was beheadings by isis? there is a standard operating procedure that was followed. the president continually updated throughout the day and continuing contact between the white house and australia

government. >> chris, you made an important note there. we don't have any evidence to suggest that this is part of any larger coordinated attack. he appears to have been act gt alone. neverthele nevertheless, australia facing more and more terrorist threats even as it becomes a more central player in that u.s.-led response to isis. we will be watching how this unfolds closely. chris jansing from the white house, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> the lindt cafe where this all plays out sits directly across from australia's channel 7 television. you've probably seen the footage all day from the channel covering this at a local level. we know that the gunman used that media, the proximity and reached out to various outlets through his hostages making public demands that way. one outlet that those dmandzs were relaid to was a radio station called 2gb. anchor reporter matthew wolfry joins me to talk about that. matthew, thank you for taking the time. it is one of the most striking features of this story, that

this individual reached out through a hostage that we understand from your colleagues was very calm when the call happened to relay demands. tell me about ha happened on that phone call. >> that's right. it's a very unique situation to what happened here in sydney. it wasn't just to our radio station, but we did receive a call yesterday morning through our switchboard, one of the receptionists at the desk, s saying this man was one of the hostages and wanted to speak to our presenter on air. ray hadley, who was the anchor of our show there and was actually on air for around 12 hours yesterday, spoke to him off air with police also listening in on that phone call. and he explained to ray hadley that there were several demands that the gunman had made that weren't yet to be made, and they ranged from various things including asking for an isis flag to be delivered to the building and an on-air interview

with the prime minister. and he wanted them broadcast on the radio. police advised us that won't the case, that we should avoid broadcasting those details as they were happening at the time. and we received several phone calls across the afternoon as the armed gunman tried to i guess persuade his hostages to force his message. we also saw it coming out on social media. he was getting those inside to post on their social media accounts his demands and make pleas to their loved ones to beg police to see it through. several television stations here as well also got similar phone calls from other hostages inside the cafe across the day. it was happening across multimedia platforms here and quite evident right across the day that he was using social media, listening to tv, listening to radio and watching the tv as this was unfolding within the cafe and trying to i guess manipulate that to get what he wanted in terms of

demands from police. >> so you all made that very difficult, complex decision not to carry that on air, to have those off-air conversations, to learn as much as possible. one thing we learned was that your colleague ray hadley actually heard the gunman in the background. what can you tell me about that? >> that's right. he could hear the gunman shouting out these demands to the hostage that was on the phone to us, telling him what he wanted him to say, and what he wanted to get broadcast onto the radio. he shouted, i want to speak to the prime minister. there were several demands coming through that obviously police weren't able to meet. and the situation was tense. ray hadley kept saying that he wasn't a negotiator and trying to pass the phone call along to negotiators and to police. but they just kept calling the radio stations and television stations and the access that police had to the gunman was very limited at first. we do understand that later in the day they it actually speak

with him and there was negotiating going on. but definitely his first point of contact was through his hostages to media outlets. >> a difficult position for any journalist to be in. thank you so much, matthew woofl. we've received word that that police press conference we are waiting on will happen around 2:00 p.m. we'll bring to you any news that comes out of it. keep it here. terror is not a new phenomenon for australia these days. this siege comes during mounting concerns there about threats from islamic extremists. we take a look at why and what comes next right after this break you have selected identity distribution. your identity will now be shared with everyone. thank you. no, no, no -- [ click, dial tone ] [ female announcer ] not all credit report sites are equal. [ male voice ] we're good in here, howie. yeah, have a good night, brother. experian.com members get personalized help plus identity theft protection. join now at experian.com.

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. welcome back, everybody. today's siege in sydney,

australia, finally ended this morning as we all know. but australia's terror threats are anything but over. officials believe dozens of australian citizens are now fighting with islamic groups li like isis. some are recruiting fighters and raising funds for the terrorist groups. just past september, law enforcement had a major breakthrough arresting 15 people in an alleged plot to behead an australian in public. muslims have been called on in australia to carry out loan wolf attacks, exactly the kind of attack that brought sydney to a standhill. i'm here with ayman mohyeldin as well as the atlantic's steve clemens in washington. steve, why is australia providing such a particular fertile ground for recruitment? >> i'm not saying it's necessarily providing a ground. australia is a place like many

western-european countries it's welcomed a lot of immigrants. one of the people identified as a kingpin of recruitment in australia is a bouncer at a club who was born in afghanistan and moved to australia when he was 7. so it's actually the openness of these societies. but also some alienation perhaps inside them. but it's their openness that has led to some of what we're seeing. >> that's exactly what we've seen here in the united states in particularly immigrant-heavy communities where you see young people feeling particularly isolated. there is this recruitment that happens here at home as well. a familiar phenomenon we know at this point. aman, how does this fit into the bigger picture of u.s./australian relations? australia an important part of the operation against isis. >> i think you can hear in the coming days and certainly from political leaders on both sides a reinforcement of the shared threat that both societies now face. now, they don't -- they have a double threat approach, if you

will. on one hand, their countries are being exploited for recruitment purposes as we've seen both those joining the fight leaving the u.s. and australia. also, they're very open societies, based on immigrant populations, very acceptable to foreigners. as a result of that, they're going to be worried about people possibly returning to those countries and posing a security risk. so i think on both sides you're going to see the double threat approach. >> i warrant to run through wha ace trail area is doing. they've enacted a law to stop its citizens to going do fight with islamist groups. in october the parliament approved a security law naming a new offense advocating terrorism as a criminal charge. just this month australia banned citizens from traveling to raka in syria specifically, an isis stronghold. are those the right moves? >> i think in part they're the right moves. australia with has been an

incredible ally stepping up first before all other nations to fight with the united states against isis. they deployed fighters, missiles and aircraft and personnel without batting an eyelash. they said, that fight is our fight, too, and jumped forward. they're very kinetically involved. but then we see the images which are shocking of a young boy holding the head of -- severed head of someone his father had killed in australia. an australian boy with an aus trail kwan father who is active in fighting with isis. so when you have these images i think the australian government is doing what it can to keep its people from going to these places and suspending the passports there. they've arrested quite a number of people and they're monitoring the financing side of this. it's hard to imagine more beyond that with the exception that ity it's important in the long run to ask why there is alienation and disaffection of some of

these immigrant community that's have moved in. but that's a long-term game that i think all of us should be looking at. but in the near term i think we are doing the right thing. >> we're going to be watching closely for comments out of the white house and this press conference we're awaiting in this coming hour from police there in sydney. see if there's any more insight into the picture in australia we've just been talking about and the relationship with the united states. steve, ayman, thank you. one interesting story to come out of this siege, take a look. there's another pr faux pa we're learning out of uber in sydney. the company actually chose to take advantage of sydney's hostage crisis by surging fares in that central business district to more than four times the normal price. uber sydney portrayed it as a public service move. they tweeted, we're all concerned with events in the central business district. fares are increased to encourage passengers being picked up in the area. there was immediate backlash to

that. less than an hour later, this response, uber sydney trips from cbd will be free for riders. higher rates are in place to encourage drivers to get into the cbd. keep it here. this kid any gunman tried to use social media in his siege. we'll take a closer look at some of those new tools of terror and how tech companies are moving faster than we've seen before in these situations.

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and reach, toes blossoming... not that great at yoga. yeah, but when i slipped a disk he paid my claim in just four days. ahh! four days? yep. see why speed matters, at aflac.com. welcome back, everybody. we are awaiting a press conference at around 2:00 p.m. from police in sydney, austra a australia. we should learn more in that presser about the recently concluded hostage standoff there. first i wanted to update you on a few other stories we're following now. first up, the continued fallout from the senate cia torture report. one of the program's main characters coming out to vehemently defend the cia's tactics. here's former vice president dick cheney on "meet the press" yesterday.

>> we've avoided another mass casualty attack against the united states. we did capture bin laden. becaptured an awful lot of senior guys from al qaeda. i'd do it again in a minute. >> cheney declined to call the cia out for some of the brutal practices described in the report including rectal rehydration and rectal feeding. words making waves around the country. also, a dramatic manhunt has ended. u.s. marshals capturing the third inmate who escaped from an alabama jail. the u.s. marshal services credited the speedy apprehension to a 24-hour tip line they kept open. the three escapees, two charged with murder and one armed robbery, had southwestern alabama on edge. in the middle of the night on saturday they lured a jailer into the cell and escaped from the choctaw county detention center. also, news about 2016. it looks like former florida governor jeb bush may be taking notes after that e-mail hacking

scandal in the news. he told wplg-tv he plans to release 250,000 e-mails from his two terms in office. he also is writing an e-book about his governing philosophy. many say a sign of a possible upcoming announcement to run for president bush indicated he would be making his decision in the coming weeks or months. also, some new developments in the bill cosby story. over the weekend, cosby obliquely responded to the sexual assault allegations against him. he said, quote, i only expect the black media to uphold standards of excellence in journalism. and when you do that, you have to go in with a neutral mind. he also credited his wife camile with being supportive and handling the situation saying, quote, let me say it again, love and the strength of womanhood or you could reverse it, the strength ofwomanhood and love. when asked how she reacts. he has deniy eied all of the allegations. keep it here, everybody. from what we know, the sydney

gunman worked alone during the hostage standoff. next, we're going to take an in-depth look at the phenomenon, the lone wolf and how colon it is and why isis is trying to insigi incite this very kind of attack. ♪ [ woman ] i will embrace change... everything life throws my way. except for frown lines. those i'm throwing back. [ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and seven beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. so while your life may be ever-changing... ♪ ...your beautiful skin will stay beautiful.

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introducing cvs health. because health is everything. welcome back, everybody. what motivated man haron monis to hold those hostages inside that sydney cafe the past 24 hours? it appears moe s moan is was acs a lone wolf, but that doesn't mean this ha tack was tied to any larger or more coordinated effort. let's take a look at these isolated acts of radicalism. back with us from washington, steve clemmons as well as ayman mohyeldin on set with me. steve, does this appear when you look at the demands that he made, including for an isis flag but only after the attack had commenced, that this was just the work of a sociopath or

psychopath looking for a cause? or does this look like a more premeditated act of radical ideology to you? >> the honest answer is, i don't know and you don't know. we won't know for a while yet. and i think that the question of whether he was a mentally ill person or whether he was fully conscious of what he was animating and calling for, the gray line between lone wolf attacks, which you could argue were triggered by isis' call to people around the world to do these kinds of things, is one element, but another thing is it's a criminal act. it falls within the criminal do codes and conducts within a country. it's hard to ascribe to isis or any terror group the acts of this person did if they self-initiated these actions, whether they're mentally ill and he's sociopathic or he's conscious of what he's doing. what we have to ask ourselves is, are we going to change the way we look at criminal behavior

that one is saying they are doing on behalf of a group elsewhere in the world? and i think that's the complexity of this. >> ayman, we know isis has called on muslims in western countries to execute this very kind of lone wolf attack. how does that fit into their broader strategy? >> i think the bottom line is they're trying to mobilize people based on an ideology, not necessarily providing them with material support, not necessarily providing them with any tactical control but saying to them, listen, you're in these countries already, you don't have to come to the battlefield in syria or iraq, we are at war with the united states or australia. if you're a sympathizer to isis, carry out attacks. i think at this point it's actually changing the rules of the game for officials, for authorities obviously for the way attacks have been carried out in the past to be part of an

organization and trance mrasplc mrarnted. >> steve, you've done impeccable writing and reporting open these terrorist groups we're dealing with here. how much of a paradigm is it for them to be actively encouraging this lone wolf attack? >> it's substantially different from what we've seen from al qaeda, the formal al qaeda group which essentially engaged in trophy terrorism. it looked at major, complex attacks that attacked major symbols of national identity elsewhere as part of what they're doing or that were part of complex multibombing activities. so there was a complexity and sophistication that al qaeda was proud of. what you're seeing with what ayman just described from isis at least is a comfort with kind of in the gutter attacks, low-yield attacks, things that any strategist would say, wow, if that's what they can throw at us, that's rather pathetic, did doesn't have the strength or backbone of large, sophisticated operations. but we've been talking all morning and all night about

this, and it does go to the heart of people's concerns about what happens in their own neighborhoods. so in a way what we're seeing isis unfold is something that, while it has less ability to completely disrupt a nation, it certainly scares a lot of people and takes terror in a new direction. >> steve, ayman, i want to get an update from the ground. we're awaiting that presser from police, set to hit at 2:00 p.m. i want to check in with reporter kat turner. she joins me from the phone, from australia's channel 7. she's actually outside of the hospital where some of the injured are being treated. cath, what is the scene on the ground like at this point? >> reporter: well, we know of about four hostages who have been treated -- taken to the hospital for treatment. one woman with a serious leg injury, a woman at the hospital where i am has been taken in with a soldier injuhoulder inju.

we believe a police officer was injured by shrapnel. he's been treated. we're waiting for the police commissioner to address the country and the media and give us the latest on what is the dramatic end about 3 1/2 hours ago and reveal as much as he can about what happened at the cafe. >> cath, when you look at the national response, we know that the prime minister asked australians to go about business as usual. that that's the best way to defy this kind of attack. people are just waking up there. are they paying heed to that? are they outraged? what is the mood on the streets? >> reporter: well, i think the prime minister was right to say try to go about your business in the sense he didn't want there to be unnecessary hysteria. this is an unprecedented kind of incident to happen in this country. we think of being far removed

from the middle east jae geographically and really this has brought terrorism really to our front door. so there's a lot of people who were shocked that something so brazen could happen right in our cbd. our newsroom is directly opposite of the cafe, meters away. we go into that cafe all the time. it was kind of hard to wrap your head around the fact that this could actually happen there. and the people we've spoken to around the city are just trying to understand how and why this could happen. having said that, there has been an increasing number of incidents and people declaring they wanted to go to the middle east, to syria and iraq to join isis and join their cause. we have specially formed crime squads and organized crime groups within the police who are monitoring middle eastern groups here who are very aware of the

homegrown terrorism. i think people thought they weren't that concerned about. there have been raids on homes in the past few months but only one formal arrest. this has really slammed home that, even though it was what they call a lone wolf attack, that this is real and this is going to cause i think a lot of people to have a serious look at our security, what implications it may have in our troop involvement in being in the middle east, being an ally of the united states, and what sort of monitoring will happen. will they increase the kind of monitoring of the arabic and islam communities here in sydney? those are all questions that will be asked of the police, our political leaders and each other in the coming days and weeks. >> obviously, our thoughts are with everybody in sydney. a frightening situation. channel 7 reporter cath turner following this throughout. steve, thank you so much.

am ami ayman, you stick around. how that gunman used social media is striking. we'll look at that more deeply in just three minutes. [coughing] dave, i'm sorry to interrupt... i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

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ask about xeljanz. police confirming that the siege in sydney is over. as that country wakes up, many unanswered questions still linger about the motives of this gunman and what comes next. families of the hostages are waiting to hear some answers to those questions. there is expected to be a police press conference at 2:00 p.m. right now i'll go to freya noble who has been reporting from the scene. she is outside the hospital where the families of hostages have been gathering as we mentioned. i'm shoeorry, the courthouse.

freya, what is the scene there right now like? >> reporter: it's quite somber here. many of the family members of the hess tajs are gathered here. a few have already left the building presumably to go to the hospital where their family members are being held. but as i said, it's quite a somber scene here at the moment. sydney is coming back to life. it's sort of early morning here now, but it's still very, very quiet and a very sad scene here outside the courthouse where the families are. >> what do we know about the conditions of those hostages? >> reporter: it's understood that three people have died, including the gunman. there are a number of other people in critical condition at various hospitals in sydney. we haven't gotten exact details on how many people are in critical or stable condition, but that information will be

revealed in about 15 minutes when the police commissioner and premier will do a press conference. >> well, we will be watching those answers they give in the press conference closely. freya noble, thank you for that update. there at the courthouse among the families of the hostages. another striking feature of today's siege in sydney, the way it played out on social media. first up, the massive global reaction. take a look at this, that's hash tag pray for sydney trending globally with more than 60,000 tweets so far. another striking feature, the use of social media inside that siege. the gunman man haron monis using social media posting on youtube and twitter. posts were soorn n removed frome site. do we have the news conference? are we going to the news conference now? we have a news conference from the police we have been awaiting, starting early. we'll take you there right now.

>> our thoughts and prayers this morning are with the innocent victims. i want to say to their families first that everyone in new south wales stands by you. they stand beside you today. they stand beside you tomorrow. they stand you beside you forever. i want to pay tribute to the men and women of the new south wales police who saved many, many lives over the past 24 hours. and risked their lives in doing so. i also want to pay tribute to all of the other emergency workers. my thoughts also remain with the

hostages who have been injured. they will be provided support. we are -- today once we brief, we must work, we must talk to our families. but i say to everyone in new south wales, today we must come together like never before. we are strong together. we will get through this. we will get through this. the events we have seen have shaken us, but they do not take us down. >> good morning. thank you. ladies and gentlemen, i'd like

to now confirm and -- it's not time to speculate. we'll work through the facts and we will apprise you as soon as we can. at this time, we actually need to think about the hostages. the premier has already indicated those who are caught up in the ordeal, i can only imagine the terror that they've been through. they're very brave people who in many cases were just buying a cup of coffee and they caught up in this dreadful event. their courage during the many hours in that room. they had to make decisions, hard decisions in their heart. we share the grief with the families, not knowing what was

happen happening. this is an isolated incident. do not let this sort of incident bring about any loss of confidence about working or visiting in our city. it was the act of an individual. this should never destroy or change the way of our life. and as the premier has indicated, this won't change our lives. this will not change the thing that's we hold dear in this country. right now i ask for members of the community to come together. we're australians. we support mates. we help friends. that's xakts exactly what we do. it's about aheading wounds, had helping everybody grow stronger because we all want a stronger australia. i too would like to commend the work of our police. while everybody may second-guess what's actually occurred in the

last hours, well, they're the ones who had to make the decision. our police had to actually deal with this incident. it was tougher, exacting work, many hours whether they were a point or part of a team that had to make that entry and deal with this situation. i want to point out they have saved lives. they have saved many lives. and to those men and women, all that were involved, we thank you. as your commissioner, i thank you, but, as a community, i'm sure australia thanks you. thank you that you're there and prepared to do this, to put your life on the lionel to keep us safe is a very, very honorable cause. and for that, our gratitude goes out to you. i can't indicate to you that we have accounted for at this stage 17 hostages, including the 5 that escaped yesterday and a number that have been caught up with traumatic injuries, some with medical conditions. we have, as you have reported,

two deceased amongst the hostages, and six that were uninjured. we also have a lone gunman who has been shot and killed. and we have a that officer. is he in good condition. he is certainly been assessed and will be remaining in hospital for some time. not too long, we hope, but he is well and grateful to be alive, let me assure you. that, ladies and gentlemen, is where i'll hand it over to you for questions. >> commissioner, if i can ask, the decision -- [ inaudible ] >> that was a decision made bit teams responsible. these are the experts. what we don't do is compete with those that have to make that call. they made the call because they believed at that time, if they didn't enter, they would have been many more lives lost. [ inaudible ] >> well, i think events unfolding inside the premises led them to the belief that now was the time to actually deploy, and they did.

>> what was happening inside? >> well, at this stage, i understand that there was a number of gunshots that were heard, which caused officers to move slightly to what we call an ea, emergency ashction plan, th caused them to enter. >> i'm not in a position to confirm that. now is not the time to secondguess or speculate. we have an investigation. we need to get it right. we have talked to the coroner. we understand the coroner's jurisdiction. there is much to be done. >> reporter: was the gunman -- >> at this stage, i'm not going to go into that. right now we're dealing with this critical incidents and we're turning our minds to look after the hostages and the families of those that have been caught up in this.

of course, we have two that have died as a result of actions inside that cafe. we're taparticularly trying to make sure we comfort those families. >> reporter: how are the uninjured hojz and how are they being taken care of at this point? >> can you repeat that? >> reporter: the uninjured hostages, where are they? >> thair part of a hostage reception plan. they're dealing with that. we need to talk to them. they're being looked after in terms of their psychological needs at the moment. at this stage, they've been well cared for. >> reporter: have you spoken to their families? >> family is certainly involved in this incident. >> reporter: do you know if the hostages -- >> again, as a result of an exchange of gunfire inside that premise, police moved in. and at this stage, as i've indicated, we have a number of people that are injured. certainly, we're working through that as part of the incident.

>> reporter: he's obviously well known to police. what was the last contact police had with -- >> again, that's -- that's part of what will come out once we go further into this. at this stage, we're not going to enter into that. sorry, excuse me. >> reporter: the explanation of the gunman's actions inside. [ inaudible ] >> look, i've got no advice to that. >> reporter: are you concerned -- [ inaudible ] >> well, i'm concerned that there was a vicious, horrendous attack that has taken place in the heart of our city. there are many questions that will come in the coming hours, days and weeks. what i can assure you is i will answer every single one of them. we will get to the bottom of

events and we will do everything possible to ensure we do not see happen again in this city what we saw in the last 24 hours. [ inaudible ] >> at this stage what i can assure you is that particular premises has been secured and at this stage we have no explosive devices that have been found. >> reporter: can you at least reveal the treatment of the hostages in the siege, were they treated well or abused? any indication of that? >> rather than go into that, until we were involved in this emergency action, we believe that no one had been injured. that changed. we changed our tactic. >> reporter: how long had he been known to police? >> at this stage, again, that is part of what will be coming out.

we'll be talking to you later through the day and i'm sure we can give you more information. again, we will not compromise this investigation. it's important we get this right. of course, the other issue that we always need to be mindful of rather than giving you information for the sake of giving you information, we want to make sure it's accurate. when it's accurate and only when it's accurate, we will release. thank you. >> that was the press conference from police in sydney, australia, in the wake of that hostage standoff there. lat ayman is our reporter following this here at nbc. what did we learn, a few highlights, 17 hostages, 2 deceased, 16 injured and a refusal, as of right now, to discuss any prior contact that police had with this individual, who is well known to them?

>> i think what we learned from this press conference had to do more with what was happening in the few hours that this siege was taking place. i think the most interesting thing i learned from this press conference was the decision on the ground by the commanders to go in and act. and i think from a journalistic perspective, i would be curious to know what led to that decision. that was a question posed to the commissioner. didn't answer it directly. but it is important to get to, what led the police on the ground to feel the dynamic changed to the point they had to act. this was for several hours. a relatively peaceful standoff. i say because nobody was injured, some managed to escape or let go. in the few hours when it was nighttime, the police acted and the police commissioner didn't respond why that -- >> a deadly cost at the end for those two deceased. laith, one prominent feature of this, social media used throughout by this hostage taker. >> social media brings immediacy immediately to the picture.

it provides details from inside. he was able to likely send investigators and the police details about his demands, likely what the situation was on the inside. he could have even provided fake details considering there were no cameras giving inside -- >> some of his posts during this incident were taken down, right? >> they were taken down mostly. purported to be an account that's his remains to be active and the last post was on december 12th. the individual appears to be very disenfranchised with the australian foreign policy as well as what he calls australian terrorism and torture in prisons. >> as far as we know, acting as a lone wolf. devastating to that city, still reeling. we'll be following this closely, including the next hour. that wraps our hour. thank you for joining me at home. i appreciate you being here. "the reid report" with my colleague joy reid is up next. y.

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