| Sydney's 1984 'Dog Day Afternoon' | |
|---|---|
| Location | Commonwealth Bank, George Street, Sydney, & the Spit Bridge, Middle Harbour Australia |
| Date | 31 January 1984 10:30am-04:30pm |
| Target | Commonwealth Bank & the Spit Bridge |
| Attack type | hostage-taking, robbery |
| Weapon(s) | Guns / handguns, Shotguns, AR15s |
| Deaths | One (gunshot) |
| Injured | One injuries (gunshot) |
| Perpetrator(s) | Hakki Bahadir Atahan |
The 1984 "Dog Day Afternoon" hostage crisis was an incident that took place between the hours of 10:30am and 4:30pm on Tuesday 31st January 1984 in George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia when a 35 year old male went on a bank robbery spree, taking 11 people hostage, before holding police at bay for several hours before finally being shot dead. Media at the time referred to the incident as Sydney's 'Dog Day Afternoon' due to some similarities with the bank robbery film of that name. The event was also described as "Australia's most dramatic hostage chase"[1] with "scenes likened to a Hollywood action film."[2]
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Turkish born 35 year old Hakki Bahadir Atahan who was unemployed at the time had carried out no less than 19 bank robberies during 1984 and 16 during 1983.[1] Atahan lived an expensive lifestyle renting a luxurious penthouse apartment in Manly, owned several expensive cars and robbed up to three banks a day, amassing over AUD $150,000 in a year.[2]
During the morning of Tuesday 31st January 1984 Atahan had successfully robbed 3 banks before entering the Commonwealth Bank, George Street, Sydney. Due to the earlier robberies police were on high alert and quickly responded to the Commonwealth Bank robbery with dozens of heavily armed tactical police forming a perimeter. During negotiations Atahan fired at least two shots from a pistol and released all the banks customers. Some time later Atatah released 4 female bank staff whilst keeping 5 male staff as hostages.
Some 2 and 1/2 hours later Atahan ended negotiations and emerged from the bank encircled by the 5 hostages who were each forced to place a hand atop of Atahans head. This tactic caused confusion and prevented police marksmen from obtaining a clear view or shot at him. One of these staff members included Geoff Findlay. Atahan forced the 5 into a nearby Datsun sedan which had keys left in it forcing a hostage to drive off through police roadblocks. This began a pursuit that lasted several hours involving 39 police cars, a police helicopter and 4 Water Police launches.[1] After two hours of driving around Atahan released a hostage and collected his 23 year old girlfriend Sharon Oliver. Upon reaching the Spit Bridge police raised the bridge preventing Atahan from travelling any further. Detectives from the Special Weapons & Operations Section approached the vehicle ordering him to surrender. Atahan fired his pistol at point blank range at Detective Senior Constable Steve Canelis striking him just above his nose. Other officers returned fire killing Atahan.[2] [1]
The incident, including news footage from the time, features in the 2009 Australian tv series Gangs of Oz, Episode 4 – Armed and Dangerous.[2] It was also made into a short feature film, ATAHAN A Feature Film (A Bank Robber, a Cop and a Reporter – not a good mix A TRUE STORY).[3]
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