Gunman Storms Café in Australia & Holds 15 Hostage | 2 Reported Dead in the Gunfire

A gunman allegedly stormed a café in central Sydney, Australia, early this morning and has been holding as many as 15 people hostage for over 12 hours.

According to Dailymail UK, the drama began unfolding when a gunman entered the cafe, located in one of busiest plazas in Sydney’s central business district, and pulled a shotgun from a blue carry bag and disabled the doors to the business.

Soon afterwards, the hostages were reportedly seen with their hands pressed against the windows holding up the Islamic Shahada flag.

The Islamic Shahada flag is described as an emblem of extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra currently fighting the Assad government in Syria.

Policemen are currently on the scene and five captives have managed to escape through the fire escape and side door.

Journalist, Chris Reason, has been tweeting about the situation.

Police have allowed me back into Martin Place newsroom – gunman is clear – white shirt, black cap, unshaven, holds poss pump action shotgun

— Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

From inside Martin Place newsroom, we’ve counted around 15 hostages – not 50 – mix of women, men, young, old – but no children. — Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

From inside Martin Place newsroom we can see gunman is rotating hostages, forcing them to stand against windows, sometimes 2 hours at a time

— Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

From inside Martin Place we can see the faces of hostages – pained, strained, eyes red and raw. One young am with head in hands — Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

From inside the Martin Place newsroom – we can see food is being delivered to the hostages. Staff bringing it out from kitchen at back

— Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

All the hostages now huddled at one end of Lindt Cafe, one is covering the window at that end with an apron — Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

When the 5 hostages escaped, the gunman could be seen from here getting extremely agitated, shouting at remaining hostages

— Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

The lights in the cafe have just gone off — Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

Still complete darkness at the Lindt Cafe, but you can just make out the black extremist flag being held up in the window

— Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

Very little movement at the Lindt Cafe. One person, we believe to be the gunman, walking toward back office. He is carrying an iPad — Chris Reason (@ChrisReason7) December 15, 2014

Our thoughts go out to the hostages and we hope everyone gets out safely.

Also on Twitter, a hashtag #IllRideWithYou has started trending in a bid to support Muslims living in Australia and dissociate them from the hostage situation.

Update:

The hostage taker has been identified as Man Haron Monis, a self-styled Muslim cleric, CNN reports. He was killed after Australian special forces troops and police stormed the cafe. Two people have been confirmed dead.

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Mark Metcalfe