Mick Hawi ‘relaxed and chatting’ before shooting death
GYM user Victor Nascmanto walked past Mick Hawi as the notorious underworld figure chatted to a woman near the reception — 30 seconds later he heard the shower of bullets outside.
NSW
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GYM user Victor Nascmanto walked past Mick Hawi as the notorious underworld figure chatted to a woman near the reception — 30 seconds later he heard the shower of bullets outside.
“When I pass through the guy (Hawi) he say ‘hey’, I say ‘hey man how are ya,” Mr Nascmanto, 34, said.
“I start my workout and I just heard the shots. Bang, bang, bang. I count 12 shots ... I didn’t see (the shooters). He was relaxed, just talking to the girl.”
Both the passenger’s side of the vehicle and the window of the gym were peppered with bullets.
Mr Nascmanto said he had heard that Hawi was hit a number of times in the chest by a composed gunman.
“The (witnesses) say he was so relaxed, just ... the gun and bang, bang, bang,” Mr Nascmanto said. “I just saw something in the chest, that’s all.”
The gunman appears to have shot Hawi at close range, with wayward bullets going through the passenger’s side door and into the gym’s glass front windows.
“There is some shot in the car and there is some shot in the mirror of the gym,” Mr Nascmento said.
“I saw four or five in the car and then in the (window) four or five more.”
Staff inside the gym saw the wounded Hawi slumped in the driver’s seat of the car and immediately ordered patrons to the back of the building.
When ambulance paramedics arrived to treat Hawi, Mr Nascmanto shot video of the scene through the bullet-shattered window. The senior bikie died from his injuries later today.
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Local youth worker Daz Araullo, 29, said she was in the meeting room in the upstairs section of Exodus Youth Works about 12.10pm when she heard loud noises ring out from across the road.
“I heard what I now know is gunshots, but when it happened it sounded like a hammer smashing loudly on metal,” she said. “It was definitely a lot of gunshots.”
The woman said she and her colleagues were confused by the noises and looked out of the windows to the view of gym-goers swarming out of the gym “not knowing what to do”.
“It’s weird because one of my colleagues goes to the gym there,” she said. “You just never know when you’re working out with a criminal.”
Owner of IYN Physiotherapy Reshan Mutukrishna said he heard at least “four bangs” just after 12pm but didn’t take any notice as the gymgoers “liked to get attention”.
“We heard a loud bang, bangs repetitively — I just thought it was someone dropping the weights in the gym as you would expect,” he said.
Mr Mutukrishna said “Mick” was a regular at the gym and that his colleague had treated him previously, but that he didn’t know him personally.
“It’s shocking. It’s sad, I guess, but it’s not surprising,” he said.
Tributes flow
This afternoon, tributes to the slain ex-president of the Comanchero have flowed on Facebook.
“Allah yerhamak, inshallah your family and close ones are blessed with patience to go threw this. Despite what people might think, he was a top bloke with a heart of gold,” wrote Ali Mack.
Earlier, Abdallah Saleh wrote of his hopes the bikie would pull through.
“Mik inshallah you come out of this one everyone is gonna be sooo lost please make it,” he posted.
“Top Man, Mick Hawi you will always be remembered RIP,” wrote Wafaa Kais.