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Sniper solution a long shot

Sniper solution a long shot

A former special forces sniper has said trying to take out Man Haron Monis with a long-range bullet could have cost more lives than it saved.

As law enforcement and security experts continued to back the NSW Police tactics to wait out the gunman at the centre of the Sydney siege, the former counterterrorism operative told _The West Australian _of his admiration at how the volatile situation was handled.

After it emerged that snipers had the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in their sights for hours, questions were asked about why the order was not given to try to shoot the self-styled sheikh from afar.

But "Dan", who trained for years to become an operational sniper in Australia's counter-terror unit, said Monis' erratic and irrational behaviour meant an order to shoot could have been disastrous.

"There would be so many unknowns - there could be four more guys in there, or two of the hostages could have been 'sleepers'," Dan said.

"He could have had IEDs (improvised explosive devices) rigged up.

"As a sniper you would probably like to take that shot - but making that order could have a much larger-scale impact."

After 17 hours of negotiations, Monis is believed to have snapped and shot cafe manager Tori Johnson at close range.

This shooting sparked the order for the Tactical Operations Unit to storm the building.

Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson and Mr Johnson died along with Monis.

Dan said that though the snipers in positions around the building were armed, a big part of their brief would have been to observe and feed information to the command control.

"In the movies it is all about the shot - but 99 per cent of the work is capturing intelligence and information," he said.

"For that last one per cent, you have to be 100 per cent accurate."

Clive Small, a former assistant commissioner with NSW Police, agreed that to take a sniper shot would have been too risky.

"The window would have shattered, glass would have splattered and put the hostages at risk, the bullet could have been deflected," Mr Small said.

"They were also talking about him having a backpack full of explosives. Everyone in that cafe, their lives were at risk.

"It is better that you get out with a wounded foot than they come out dead."

Responding to suggestions that military special forces should have been called in, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione vigorously defended his officers. "There is an age-old rule when you are putting teams together for this really important work - you get the very, very best you can to do the job," he said.

"Suffice to say, a decision was made by the commanders, those decisions I would endorse.

"They made absolutely the right call … if they hadn't have moved when they moved, this could have been much, much worse."

But Lance Burdett, the negotiator who oversaw the 2009 Napier siege in New Zealand in which two people died, said all law enforcement personnel involved would be asking if they could have done more.

"They will be soul-searching over the next few weeks," he said.

'There would be so many unknowns - there could be four more guys in there, or two of the hostages could have been "sleepers".'"Former sniper *Dan *