9781422282939

8

S T E M I N C U R R E N T E V E N T S

At about 9:44 a . m . , a man who had been sitting at a table pulled out a gun and held it to the head of the cafe’s manager.The man, Haron Monis, then yelled for everyone to stand with their hands in the air.This was a terrorist attack, he yelled. He claimed to be a member of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, a terrorist organization in theMiddle East.Monis,wearing camouflage pants and a baseball cap, said he had placed bombs in the restaurant. Everyone, he shouted, should do as he said. It was the beginning of a 16-hour siege with the police. The next morning, at around two o’clock, police stormed the café using flash grenades. The grenades exploded with an ear- splitting bang, sending a bright flash of light into the café, stun- ning everyone inside. The police found Monis and shot him dead. The carnage was over in about 30 seconds. Two others in the café also died. Scanning the Scene The restaurant was now a crime scene.A forensics investigation, run by the New SouthWales Coroner’s office, began. As part of their investigation, officials decided to use a new, highly sophis- ticated tool to reconstruct the crime. Known as High Definition Surveying, or HDS, investigators examined the café using com- puterized 3D scanners that broke the crime scene down into reams of digital information. Laser scanners swept over the inside of the café mapping and measuring nearly every square inch. Crime scene investigators used handheld scanners to capture high-resolution images