lennon was in the relationship with a white woman over the road, as you just discussed. did you talk to any of the police officials about what does seem to be a very cursory investigation? well, it s a tiny town with a tiny police force, about three officers. they re not really speaking. as i say, within a matter of five hours, they kind of reached their conclusion. it seems what happened is one police officer, the chief police officer, told the local medical examiner it was suicide. the local medical examiner told the chief medical examiner it was a suicide and, hence, the chief medical examiner came out with pretty much a suicide verdict from the autopsy. but since then, the family have presented more than 20 reasons why they re concerned the investigation has not been fully done. anything ranging from the fact that the belts lennon used that lennon was strung up with weren t his. no one knows where they came from. the shoes were not his. they were two sizes too small for him.
when you look back, and we ve 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 don t 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 on-scene 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
and friends, stands with them. they stand beside me today. i will stand beside you tomorrow. i will stand beside you forever. that was new south wales premier mike baird moments ago with details about the deadly standoff in sydney. here s what we know right now. all 17 hostages that were being held inside sydney s downtown lin lindt cafe have been accounted for, two are dead and the others are uninjured. the lone gunman identified as iranian man haron monis was shot and killed in the raid. the man who called himself a cleric was well known to police. police say they stormed the premises after a number of gunshots were heard inside the building. one officer suffered nonlife-threatening injuries. police did not find any explosive devices.
that caused quite a bit of tension in the area. was there a racial motive behind what happened to him? and i think it is it s fair to say. i visited the house just next door where only recently there had been signs up saying black people should leave the area. the police had been forced to take those signs down. so, definitely signs of racial tension in the area. and they also say that lennon lacy was not the kind of son, not the kind of brother, not the kind of guy who would kill himself. i want to read a little bit from from your piece and this is claudia lacy, the mother of lennon. the police didn t once come to my house. they didn t look inside lennon s room. they still haven t to this day. they didn t ask to see his cell phone so they could track his calls. they didn t ask me what clothes he was wearing the night before he died. they didn t even inquire about the fact that lennon was found with a pair of white sneak others his feet that he didn t own and that were too sizes
you might to want take it. you want to be careful, too, because you could be shot in the back. authorities are there, they re watching, listening and they ll be ready to move at the first opportunity they get. jim cavanaugh, thanks very much. thanks, joy. we re 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 we ll look at lone wolf attacks. how do counterterrorism officials respond to similar situations here at home? what does today s standoff mean in the fight against the coalition of isis?