2014 Sydney hostage crisis
The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, also known as the Sydney siege and Lindt Cafe siege, occurred on 15–16 December 2014 when a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage ten customers and eight employees of a Lindt chocolate café located at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack at the time, but Monis' motives were subsequently debated. However, the findings of the Coroner in 2017 deemed the event to be a terrorist attack.
Sydney siege inquest
Hostage Jarrod Morton-Hoffman told police that a woman would be shot if they did not move cars visible from the window. (It is unclear whether the cars were moved.)
Morton-Hoffman helped calm down an increasingly agitated Monis multiple times throughout the 17-hour ordeal. 
He described him as 'a very dangerous toddler.'
'He seemed unstable, emotional, not very logical. I think 'volatile' is the word to describe him. '
'In fact he did not seem to be following any logic — his demands changed with the wind,' he said.
'He was driven largely by emotion and anger and he was easy to manipulate.' 
At one point, Morton-Hoffman even offered to paint Monis an Islamic State flag if he let a pregnant woman go, to no avail.
Hostage Ms Ma said that Man Haron Monis was becoming increasingly agitated as the siege entered the early hours of the morning.
On 25 May, a summary of Monis' life in Australia was presented, depicting him as a "complex and secretive" man. This included his request for asylum, and his being accused of sexual offenses against women. He had been diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia at different times. He also joined the Rebels Motorcycle Club but was not liked and was rejected as a member in mid 2013. By 2014, Monis was "a man who was spiralling out of control", with few friends and no standing with any community.