Lone wolf or disturbed individual? Inquest examines man behind deadly siege at Sydney cafe

FILE - In this April 18, 2011 file photo, Man Haron Monis speaks to the media as he leaves the Downing Centre in Sydney after a pre-trial hearing where he is accused of sending offending letters to the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The man who took 18 people hostage at a Sydney cafe last year was educated and erratic, secretive about his own life and public about his many grievances, and a self-obsessed fabulist who grew increasingly defiant as he edged closer to launching his deadly attack, lawyers told an inquest Monday, May 25, 2015. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP, File) AUSTRALIA OUT, NEW ZEALAND OUT, NO ARCHIVE, NO SALES (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2014 file photo, a hostage runs to an armed tactical response police officers for safety after she escaped from a cafe under siege at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney, Australia. The man who took 18 people hostage at a Sydney cafe last year was educated and erratic, secretive about his own life and public about his many grievances, and a self-obsessed fabulist who grew increasingly defiant as he edged closer to launching his deadly attack, lawyers told an inquest Monday, May 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File) (The Associated Press)

An inquest into last year's siege at a Sydney cafe has heard that the gunman was a self-obsessed fabulist who grew increasingly defiant as he edged closer to launching his deadly attack.

The details of Man Monis' life and death were being examined Monday at a coroner's inquest investigating the circumstances of December's crisis at the Lindt Cafe. Monis took those inside hostage and forced them to outline his demands in online videos — including that he be delivered a flag of the Islamic State group. The standoff ended when police stormed the cafe.

Coroner Michael Barnes said the inquest would try to answer whether Monis was a lone wolf perpetrating an Islamic State-inspired terrorist act, or a "deranged individual" pursuing a personal private grievance in a public manner.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/lone-wolf-or-disturbed-individual-inquest-examines-man-behind-deadly-siege-at-sydney-cafe