Ultimately, while the very nature of crisis situations is defined by uncertainty and tension, an aligned, synchronized team that understands the power of patience, buoyed by a disciplined process and well-ordered communication, can sometimes work miracles.

Rather than continue the assault, Schlossberg continued to negotiate. By the evening of the first day, a hostage was released in good faith to take a message to the police, demanding medical attention for the wounded hostage takers. Because the perpetrators identified as Muslim, on the second day of the standoff, several Islamic clergy members were contacted by the negotiation command post and allowed to enter the store to discuss the situation. While the perpetrators communicated that they were willing to die for their cause along with the hostages, Schlossberg kept a calm head and rightly concluded that such bravado was likely the result of still-heightened tensions and that the men involved wanted to live, as such a position seemed counteracted by the hostage-takers’ repeated requests for medical supplies, food, and cigarettes, which were provided; another hostage was released in exchange for the medical attention.

Around this time, Schlossberg and the NYPD put together a select group of individuals as a “think tank,” including key department personnel, outside experts including an additional psychologist, and specialist FBI agents. This group, using their various insights gleaned from experience and incoming on-the-ground intel, coordinated their efforts to continue to prolong the negotiations and keep the hostage-takers engaged, with the mandate to ‘slow things down and talk things out’ and dispel tension; while the robbers occasionally engaged in sporadic gunfire, the authorities, under advisement by the think tank, held their fire for the remainder of the incident in an effort to continue to ease the overall stress of the situation.

Continued communication was partially maintained by walkie-talkies, and the perpetrators allowed a member of the negotiations squad alongside a nurse to enter with supplies and new batteries. At this time, it was discovered that one of the men involved was potentially suffering from an infection along with blood poisoning, requiring immediate medical treatment beyond what the current situation allowed. The squad member and nurse also learned from the perpetrators that they were apologetic for Gilroy's death, which they had only become aware of from a radio inside the store, which further demonstrated to Schlossberg that the men were likely amendable to further discussion.

Meanwhile, in the store—unknown to the perpetrators—a hostage familiar with John and Al's knew a certain corner of one of the rooms was simply constructed of a thin plasterboard wall hiding a stairwell leading to the roof. Eventually, taking advantage of the now relatively diluted anger and stress of the hostage-takers and their growing familiarity with their captives, this man convinced the gunmen to leave the hostages in this specific corner where they would supposedly be out of the line of fire, should it come to that, which was in a separate room from the perpetrators.

By this point, the ESU had begun drilling underground to construct a tunneling system in a parallel effort to potentially rescue the hostages as an alternative or coordinated last resort. As the perpetrators went to investigate this noise, the hostages were able to break through the plaster wall and escape, surprising officers who were nonetheless prepared for a potential exit from any known egress point, who shuttled the escapees to safety by lowering a ladder to bring them over to an adjacent building.

Without the hostages, all leverage was gone for the hostage-takers. However, to ensure no unnecessary loss of life on either side from a desperate last stand, Schlossberg continued to negotiate and develop a rapport with the gunmen while the NYPD and ESU contained them. Within hours, convinced they would remain unharmed and that further resistance would neither serve their cause nor lead to an escape, the perpetrators peacefully surrendered.