Cop involved in siege hailed as a hero

An officer shot during a dramatic armed siege at a Sydney pub is a hero whose
actions had saved lives, says the NSW police commissioner.

Police responded to what is thought to have been an armed robbery at the Lakes Hotel
in Rosebery at about 5.30am (AEST) on Sunday.
The situation quickly developed into a siege, with witnesses reporting up to seven
shots being fired and the gunman holding four or five people hostage in the hotel.
The siege ended peacefully when police negotiators convinced the gunman, who was
wounded in the stand-off, to give himself up four hours after 52-year-old Sergeant
Stephen de Lorenzo was shot.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said Sgt de Lorenzo, who was rushed to
Prince of Wales Hospital, had not expected to end up being shot when he went to work
for his shift.
"He's a hero. I think some of the people that were in that premises are alive
because of his actions," Mr Scipione told reporters.
"I can tell you he's in very good spirits."
Sgt de Lorenzo's wife of 25 years, Kay Keeble, said the bullet had gone straight
through her husband's right shoulder.
She said doctors had told her he had been lucky, and that she and their two
daughters, aged 13 and 16, should "celebrate".
"It was just at the end of his shift, he was getting ready to come home and the call
came through so he jumped in the car and off he went," she told the Nine Network.
"Hostages were there ... pleading for their lives, everyone was yelling and
screaming, bullets were flying."
She said it had taken a long time for her husband, who is resting at home, to come
to terms with fatally shooting an offender in 2000, and she expected this time would
be no different.
"He likes being a frontline policeman, that's what he lives for," she said.
"He's been involved in a lot of things, everything's got to take its toll."
All the hostages were believed to be staff at the Gardeners Road pub, enjoying a
drink after the 4am closing time.
A witness who lives across the road said the gunman surrendered after being carried
out of the hotel by its manager and security guard just before 10am.
"(One man) came out ... with his hands up. The police gestured that he drop the
pistol. He threw the pistol onto the footpath, then went back inside the bottle
shop," the man, identified only as Steve, told Fairfax Radio.
"A couple of minutes later there were three men huddled together like a scrum. The
guy in the middle had a towel over his head (and he) ... was left to lay on the
footpath.
"After they (the police) crossed the road with their guns drawn towards the man
laying on the footpath.
"He had a damaged leg. His leg was bandaged as he was loaded into the ambulance."
One witness, who was at a nearby petrol station when police stormed the building at
5.30am, said he heard seven shots fired, in two bursts.
"I saw the cops run into the pub ... and there were about two gunshots fired," said
the Lakes Hotel regular, who asked not to be named.
"After that there were cops going in and out, running out for vests. Then we heard
`officer down', and then gun shots fired again."
Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn said the gunman was taken to St Vincent's
Hospital with a gunshot wound and would be interviewed by police. No charges have
yet been laid.
A critical investigation team has been set up to investigate the shooting and the
siege.