Georges Hall shooting: Man shot dead in ‘drive-by’ attack

UPDATE: THE man gunned down in front of his 12-year-old nephew at their western Sydney home was a contract killer involved in a number of murders and shootings.

THE man gunned down in front of his 12-year-old nephew at their western Sydney home was a contract killer involved in a number of murders and shootings.

Hamad Asaad was shot dead by two gunmen who pounced from a sports car as he walked to his Georges Hall driveway about 9.20am.

They opened fire on the unsuspecting 29- year-old before fleeing in getaway car.

Hamad Asaad, 29, was gunned down in the driveway of his Georges Hall home yesterday.

Mr Asaad’s body lies in the driveway of his Georges Home after he was shot dead.

Police believe Asaad may be the shooter responsible for the callous daylight execution of Sydney crime kingpin Walid “Wally” Ahmad on April 29 at a Bankstown shopping centre. The brazen murder of Ahmad,  known  as  a Mr Big of Sydney’s crime world, shocked the state.

An insider told The Daily Telegraph Asaad had been bragging about his involvement in Ahmad’s murder. This may have angered the very people who organised the hit. Asaad’s death echoed the vicious attack on Ahmad.

He bled out on the concrete driveway, with his head and body riddled with bullets.

Walid ‘Wally’ Ahmad was ambushed and shot dead at Bankstown Central in April. Picture: Seven News

CCTV shows the moment Ahmad was shot in the April attack

And just like Ahmad’s ­execution, the shooters wore black and fired rapidly before fleeing into a waiting getaway car with a driver ready to go.

Asaad is well known to police and was an influential figure in Sydney Middle Eastern organised crime world.

Paramedics had worked to save the man but he died at the scene.

In 2010 he was acquitted of the murder of Mohamad ­Alahmad, who was shot while getting into his BMW outside his Granville home in August 2008. It is believed Alahmad’s wife, Eman Hamawi, had left him and started a relationship with crime boss Nasser ­Kalache.

However, while the Kalaches are one of the area’s most well-known and feared crime families it is understood that neither the family not Ms ­Hamawi had anything to do with Ahmad’s death.

A visibly distraught man is held back by friends and police at the scene. Picture: AAP

A visibly distraught man is held back by friends and polic at the scene of the fatal shooting. (AAP Image).

Asaad also had links to the notorious Brothers 4 Life gang. His other close friends include standover man and former bodyguard to Salim Mehajer, Walid Elriche.

Elriche was stopped by police trying to climb over the back fence of the crime scene.

It is claimed by some insiders that Ahmad was murdered by Asaad in retaliation for the killing of Safwan Chabaji three weeks earlier.

Asaad’s visibly distressed mother was helped from the scene by police and an unknown man..

A fight over $100,000 ignited another feud between the warring Ahmad and Elmir families.

Chabaji, his father-in-law Fawaz Elmir and two others went to Ahmad’s smash repair business to broker a solution.

But when they arrived a shootout involving up to five guns broke out and Chabaji was shot dead. Abdullah El Masri, an ­associate of the Ahmad family, was shot in the jaw during the crossfire.

What appears to be a spent bullet casing at the scene.

Ahmad’s brother Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad fled to Lebanon in the days following his death. He was charged in relation to the Condell Park shooting and it is understood he is trying to broker a deal with homicide detectives to return to face a Sydney court.

Police had to earlier hold back this distraught man, believed to be the victim’s brother, who was trying to gain access to the crime scene.

Homicide Chief Inspector Grant Taylor said the Asaad shooting was “targeted” and unfolded in a matter of seconds. He confirmed the man had ties to Middle Eastern crime gangs.

“He was moving one car out of the driveway when he was shot multiple times,” he said. “His mother was home at the time. She is hysterical as you can imagine.”

Insp Taylor said the victim was being “observed” by the shooters before the attack.

“The motivation behind this murder is not ­really known and it   would    not be the  right thing for us to speculate,” Insp Taylor said.

Dozens of police raced to the scene after reports of the shooting.

Police from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad are among those at the scene.

The shooting took place at Sturt Ave, Georges Hall