Sydney, Australia: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday the gunman behind the Sydney cafe siege was well known to authorities and had a history of mental instability.
"The perpetrator was well known to both state and commonwealth authorities," Abbott told reporters in a brief press conference in Canberra. "He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability."
"These events do demonstrate that even a country as free, as open, as generous and as safe as ours is vulnerable to acts of politically motivated violence," Abbott said.
A police source named the gunman as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh facing multiple charges of sexual assault as well as being an accessory to murder.
"The perpetrator was well known to both state and commonwealth authorities," Abbott told reporters in a brief press conference in Canberra. "He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability."
"These events do demonstrate that even a country as free, as open, as generous and as safe as ours is vulnerable to acts of politically motivated violence," Abbott said.
© Thomson Reuters 2014
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