Sydney Victims Tried to Save Others

By Rebecca Thurlow And Lucy Craymer 

SYDNEY--Monday started as any other day for Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson and café manager Tori Johnson. Less than a day later both were dead, killed at the end of a 16-hour siege that gripped the world.

Ms. Dawson had gone to the Lindt Chocolate Café, near the Phillip Street legal firm where she worked, at Eight Selborne Chambers, with colleague Julie Taylor.

Ms. Dawson was there at 9:45 a.m. when 50-year-old Man Haron Monis, a self-proclaimed Shiite cleric with a history of run-ins with Australian law enforcement, walked in with a gun and took 17 people hostage including Mr. Johnson and at least two other Lindt staff members.

At a memorial service at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney to commemorate the victims, Archbishop Anthony Fisher said both Ms. Dawson and Mr. Johnson had acted heroically.

"Reports have emerged this morning of the heroism of the male victim of this siege. Apparently seeing an opportunity, Tori grabbed the gun. Tragically it went off, killing him but it triggered the response of police and eventual freedom for most of the hostages," Archbishop Fisher said.

He said it had also emerged that Ms. Dawson was shielding her pregnant friend from gunfire.

The 38-year-old was herself the mother of three children--Sasha, Oliver and Chloe--with her husband Paul Smith. She balanced motherhood with a successful law career and a number of voluntary roles and helped senior students at Ascham School, an all-girl school she attended, preparing for mock trials earlier in the year.

"Katrina was one of our best and brightest barristers who will be greatly missed by her colleagues and friends," said Jane Needham, the president of the NSW Bar Association, in a statement.

The Redfern Legal Center, which provides legal services for marginalized and disadvantaged people, said in a post on its Facebook page that Ms. Dawson would be remembered as one of its best volunteers.

In an outpouring of grief, hundreds of people lay flowers in Martin Place Tuesday in honor of the victims.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the hostages were "decent innocent people who got caught up in the sick fantasy of a deeply disturbed individual".

"It is about an innocent thing as anyone could do, to go and grab a cup of coffee before the working day has fully started," Mr. Abbott told journalists in Sydney.

Mr. Johnson, 34, had been working for Lindt at the café for 2 1/2 years. He also got a certificate in retail management from the Australian Retailers Association last year, according to what appeared to be Mr. Johnson's LinkedIn page.

His parents released a statement via Australian broadcaster Channel 9, saying, "We are so proud of our beautiful boy Tori, gone from this earth but forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we could ever wish for."

Lindt called Mr. Johnson a dedicated professional who built a great rapport with his customers and was much loved by his co-workers.

"By nature he was a perfectionist and he had a genuine passion for the hospitality industry and people. He was a really important part of our management team in Australia and his loss is absolutely tragic," the statement on the company's Facebook page said.

Peter Manettas, whose father, Nick, owns Adria Rybar & Grill where Mr. Johnson worked for six years, described Mr. Johnson as a leader who always passed credit for successes on to the staff that he managed and was incredibly proud of his family.

The names of the other hostages haven't been officially released. Two Westpac Banking Corp. staff members and two employees from the Australian bank's technical partner Infosys had been caught up in the siege.

This included ICT project manager Marcia Mikhael, whose husband George Mikhael posted a message on his Facebook page saying she was recovering well in the hospital.

It wasn't possible to directly reach Ms. Mikhael or the families of Mr. Johnson or Ms. Dawson, nor to independently verify postings on Facebook and LinkedIn.

New South Wales Police said three women who had all received gunshot wounds were in a stable condition, a 39-year-old policeman who received a minor facial injury had been treated at hospital and discharged, while two pregnant woman had been assessed for health and welfare purposes.

Write to Lucy Craymer at [e-mail] and Rebecca Thurlow at [e-mail]

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