Postcode wars links to Marsden Park drive-by shooting key line of investigation
A mistaken identity shooting in Sydney’s west is believed to be the latest escalation in a feud between two gangs involved in the city’s “postcode wars”.
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A drive-by shooting in Sydney’s west is believed by police to be the latest escalation in a tit-for-tat feud between two gangs involved in the city’s “postcode wars”.
Masked gunmen opened fire on an innocent family’s home on Steeple Pl in Marsden Park about 10.45pm on Thursday, spraying a number of bullets through a front window before hopping into a getaway car and fleeing the scene.
The car was found burnt out a few suburbs away in Girraween some 30 minutes later.
As police swarmed the city’s west in the aftermath, officers separately stopped a rideshare vehicle as it drove along Lucretia Rd in Toongabbie, finding Maselino Faletolu in the back seat.
NSW Police said officers searched the 18-year-old, allegedly finding him carrying a sawn-off shotgun before also seizing “spent ammunition cartridges”.
Faletolu was arrested and taken to Blacktown Police Station, where he was charged with five firearm-related offences including possessing a shortened firearm without authority and acquiring a firearm while subject to prohibition order.
The teenager was not charged over the Marsden Park shooting and it is not suggested he was involved in any way or is a part of any gang.
Faletolu faced Blacktown Local Court on Friday, when he was refused bail to reappear on May 16.
Police sources say early investigations into the mistaken identity shooting have led them to believe it was part of an ongoing conflict between two youth gangs - 67, from Doonside, and RFA (Ready for Anything), from Mt Druitt.
Sydney has been in the grips of intermittent feuds between rival “postcode gangs” for the best part of a decade, with teenagers arming themselves with weapons and going toe-to-toe with rivals from different suburbs.
It has led to a number of fatalities, which police say have been further spurred on by references to those incidents in songs created by drill rap groups linked to the gangs.
One such high-profile incident was the fatal stabbing of Uati Faletolu, a 17-year-old associate of the 67 gang, who was killed as he worked at the Royal Easter Show in 2022.
In the aftermath of that horrifying incident, members of RFA posted TikTok videos taunting their rivals over Uati’s death.
As part of investigations into the feud, police are also understood to be looking into an alleged stabbing at a Box Hill gym last month and whether it is linked.
An associate of another Mt Druitt group posted on Instagram in the aftermath of Thursday night’s shooting, making light of the incident and saying: “Lol do ur (your) homework properly next time.”
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Originally published as Postcode wars links to Marsden Park drive-by shooting key line of investigation
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