Auburn shooting: Convicted killer Emad Sleiman shot in chest in late night attack
UPDATE: A lone gunman is on the run after Emad Sleiman — who served 16 years in prison for the murder of champion waterskier Jason Burton — was shot multiple times in a unit carpark of last night.
NSW
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CONVICTED killer Emad Sleiman was shot multiple times in an apartment block in Sydney’s west last night.
Police were called to the building on Park Rd, Auburn, about 9.30pm after reports of multiple gunshots.
They found the wounded 38-year-old at the scene. He was awake and alert when emergency services arrived at the scene.
Sleiman was shot several times, at least once in the chest and once in the leg.
He was taken to Westmead Hospital where he underwent surgery and is in a stable condition.
Flemington Local Area Command Inspector Emma Watson said police were pursuing several lines of inquiry, including whether the attack was linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
“He has injuries to his chest and legs, he was shot several times in the carpark of the unit block,” Insp Watson said.
“There are various lines of inquiries that we are following. One of those is links to any other crimes. I can confirm it was a targeted attack and the victim is well-known to police.
“One other line of inquiry also involves a vehicle.
“Public shootings aren’t something we take lightly and we want the public to feel safe.”
Asked if officers were hunting a lone gunman, Insp Watson said: “There are various lines of inquiries but we believe that is the case.”
Insp Watson said they expect to speak to Sleiman “at a later stage” at hospital.
One witness, who did not want to be identified as he lives in the building, said he saw blood through the unit block elevator.
“I saw blood in the lift, it wasn’t a lot of blood but a trail of five drops. I thought maybe someone had a bad nose bleed but then I heard screaming,” he said.
“Their was screaming and I think the wife of the victim was crying. Police and ambulance had blocked the entire street.”
Police are yet to determine a motive but believe the dispute could have involved a vehicle.
Insp Watson refused to confirm if the shooting was linked to Mr Burton’s murder.
Sleiman was sentenced to 16 years in jail for the murder of rising sports star Jason Burton in a bar fight at the General Bourke Hotel in 1997.
Sleiman pulled a knife on Burton, who was celebrating his 25th birthday on the night, after he and his cousin followed and confronted the man outside the Parramatta hotel. Sleiman’s non-parole period will expire in December 2023
The unit block where the shooting occurred is directly opposite Trinity Catholic College in Auburn.
Earlier today, police cordoned off the unit, the driveway and the neighbouring apartment block.
There was a trail of blood coming from inside the unit foyer leading to the footpath outside.
Neighbour Ilyas Yousef said the gunshots sounded like “fire crackers” and the victim’s shoulder and arms were covered in blood.
“I was on a call when I heard some fire cracking sounds. I then saw some ambulance, under cover police and other guards arrive,” the 26-year-old said.
“I came outside and I saw the victim coming from the apartment walking. He was with his wife and a child.
“There was blood on his shoulder and arms. He was holding his shoulder.”
One shocked witness said he was inside a nearby restaurant when it happened but didn’t hear anything as it is believed the man was shot in an underground carpark at the unit block.
“Only two weeks ago we got rated the most dangerous suburb, all the bad people live here to get shot at, that’s the reason it’s so dangerous,” one tenant said.
“Good old Auburn.”
Another resident had just left the building with her child and husband when she heard a loud noise.
“I heard a noise but I thought it was the back of a car — the exhaust,” she said.
“But when we got in the lift there were spots of blood on the floor.”
A white Mercedes was found burnt out a short time later in Loder Lane in Punchbowl and is believed to be connected to the shooting.
Police attended the crime scene and are investigating possible CCTV footage in the area.
The shooter remains at large.
HOTEL STOUSH ENDED IN STABBING
Jason Burton, a champion waterskier, was celebrating his 25th birthday at a Parramatta hotel in 1997 when he was fatally stabbed by Emad Sleiman after an early argument inside the establishment.
The argument erupted after a girl was reportedly groped inside the hotel.
Mr Burton was attacked later outside the General Bourke Hotel and was stabbed twice in the chest. The knife which pierced the young water skier’s heart was thrust at him with such ferocity the impact fractured his ribs, according to autopsy reports.
Bruising around the entry wound was caused not by the blade of the weapon but the force of its handle slamming against his chest.
Sleiman was at the hotel with a group of friends, including his nephew Hassan Kalache.
Listening devices put inside Sleiman’s Merrylands home after the murder caught him confessing to the killing.
In 2009, Sleiman and fellow convicted killer, Brothers For Life founder Bassam Hamzy, won the right in the NSW Supreme Court to sue the NSW commissioner of corrective services over their solitary confinement in Goulburn’s Supermax prison.
But the NSW government soon after stepped in and legislated to scuttle the legal bid.
Then premier Nathan Rees told parliament the pair’s “grab for cash” was “one of revulsion and utter disbelief”.
SYDNEY SHOOTINGS
2017
— March 27: A man in his 30s was shot and left bleeding on the ground in Torrens St in Canley Vale in Sydney’s southwest just before 3.40pm. Four men were arrested in relation to the shooting in what is believed to be a targeted attack.
— March 3: A 20-year-old man miraculously survived being shot three times at Bobart St, Parramatta. Police officers found several bullet casings at the scene.
— March 2: Another man, 36, was shot in the buttocks outside a home in Glenfield in south west Sydney. The man was reportedly standing in his driveway talking to a neighbour when two motorbikes approached him about 10pm with the man shot as he tried to run away from his attackers.
— March 1: Suspected Hells Angels associate Radwan Zraika, 39, was shot in the head and hand at Chester Hill. His white Mercedes Benz was peppered with at least six bullets as he sat in his driveway at 8pm. He miraculously escaped with only minor injuries.
2016
— November 14: Pasquale Barbaro, 35, executed outside an Earlwood home in southwest Sydney. Barbaro’s grandfather and cousin were both killed in gangland hits and there were unconfirmed rumours he was an informant.
— October 25: Hamad Assaad shot dead in broad daylight by at least two gunmen in the driveway of his Georges Hall home. Assaad, 29, was a key suspect in the murder of underworld figure Walid Ahmad.
— April 29: Gangland kingpin and convicted killer Walid Ahmad, 40, killed in a spray of bullets on the rooftop car park of Bankstown Central shopping centre. Ahmad’s murder was believed to be in retaliation for the fatal shooting of Safwan Charbaji outside a Condell Park panel beater several weeks earlier.
— April 9: Safwan Charbaji, 32, fatally wounded and another man seriously injured after a gunfight outside a Condell Park smash repair business linked to Ahmad. An outstanding debt dispute was reportedly one of the possible motives being investigated for the fatal shooting.
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