A hostage situation is continuing in a chocolate shop in Sydney, Australia, a city best know for dentists who kidnap deformed juvenile clownfish.

A raving self-styled Iranian “sheik,” Man Haron Monis, 49,  who is out on bail for charges relating to the stabbing and burning death of his ex-wife, walked into a Lindt cafe and took up to 15 people hostage with a shotgun. He claims to have accomplices and bombs placed throughout the city.

By now, authorities have swept his home work, and any vehicles he may own for explosives, have torn through his social media, email, and phone records, his bank accounts and purchase history, and have eyes on every person with whom Haron has had any meaningful ties.

They’re also aware that Monis’s action to put hostages in the window of the cafe is evidence that he knows they’ll eventually figure out the obvious truth…

He’s bluffing.

We know that the police have snipers in place with eyes on the cafe.

We also know that on several occasions, Monis has presented those snipers with a near-perfect shot, similar to the photo below, which shows Monis close to the windows, at a near 90-degree angle, where the 7.62-caliber bullets would experience minimal deflection (measured in millimeters).

The range for these shots (depending on exact sniper location) is more than likely within 100 yards, and certainly no more than 150 yards.

Purely from the marksmanship perspective, this shot appears to be child’s play.

If you were green-lighted to take the shot, would you?

But here’s the bigger question: why do you think that Australian police snipers have not been given permission to fire?

Update: The siege is over. Australian media have shown a stack of heavily armed officers swarming through the door of the cafe, and audio picked up what sounds like sheveral shotgun blasts, followed by several bursts of automatic weapons fire consistent with police weaponry and the possible deployment of flash-bang grenades.

They’ve brought out numerous hostages on stretchers.

They should have dropped him when they had the chance.