Marvin Oraiha shot dead in Elizabeth Hills in latest gangland hit to rock Sydney
A man shot dead in a hail of bullets while he sat in his car outside his home in Sydney’s west has been identified. Police sources believe he had low-level links to a notorious bikie gang.
NSW
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A low-level bikie associate shot dead on Monday afternoon told his girlfriend to run away from the car once he realised two gunmen were closing in to assassinate him.
Marvin Oraiha, 24, is the latest victim in the city’s ongoing underworld war that has seen 17 people gunned down in deliberate shootings since late-2020.
The Daily Telegraph understands gunmen followed the silver sedan Mr Oraiha was sitting in to his home on Hertfordshire St in Elizabeth Hills, in Sydney’s south west, about 4pm.
Witnesses said before the bullets were fired that killed Mr Oraiha, they heard screams and saw a woman running from the car.
Police sources said Mr Oraiha was believed to have low-level links to the Comanchero bikie gang, but was not a member.
“There are very loose links there, but nothing that would indicate he is a member or heavily involved in the gang, just that he might know some of the members,” the source said.
“He is certainly not someone who was prominently on our radar by any means.
“So we are investigating, but at this stage it is way too early to say what this could be about, but it has all the hallmarks of an organised crime shooting.”
As the killers opened fire on the man, bullets smashed through the windows of his silver sedan and fatally struck him in the head.
Horrified residents on the usually quiet suburban street tried to perform first aid on the man, while others rang Triple-0.
When police arrived on the scene they also performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but the man could be not be saved.
Three relatives of Mr Oraiha visited the home on Tuesday morning in the hopes of joining their family in grief, only to be turned away by police and told no one was home.
“We are so shocked to hear about this, we have never heard something bad about them (the Oraiha family),” one teary eyed cousin, a woman wearing all black told The Daily Telegraph.
“There is never any negative comments about us, our history is not bad. We don’t have any bad background.
“They are a really nice family.”
The three women and “cousins” said the last time they saw Mr Oraiha was at a party under two years ago.
“His (Mr Oraiha) father is our uncle,” the woman said.
The three ladies said the family had lived on the quiet street since 2014.
The trio visited the home the night before hand but were told to wait by police and after staying for 4 hours, returned home.
Two other family members, a man and a woman “on the fathers side” arrived at the house on Tuesday morning around 10am after hearing the news and joined the waiting women.
“When a tragedy like this happens it’s tradition to come see the family,” they told The Daily Telegraph.
Nearby resident Ben whose home backs onto Hertfordshire Street said his son was having a BBQ at the time the shots were fired.
“He heard gunshots,” he said.
“I feel unsafe now.
“This is the first time I have heard of anything like it although we’ve got a lot of hooligans around the area.”
At 4.07pm residents on the corner of Cave Close and Bluff Street in nearby Green Valley called Triple-0 to report a white Audi A1 was on fire.
That vehicle had fake number plates, with the offenders using the details of a vehicle currently for sale for $44,000 on an online sales website.
Six minutes later at 4.13pm, a second car – an SUV – was found ablaze on Lewis Street in Bonnyrigg Heights.
Initial investigations suggest the two gunmen drove in the Audi together from Elizabeth Hills to Green Valley.
From there they got into the SUV which they used to take them to Bonnyrigg Heights, before using a third unknown car to make their final getaway.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, NSW Police announced the formation of Strike Force Hackenberg to investigate Mr Oraiha’s death.
“Detectives from Liverpool City Police Area Command and the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad, assisted by other South-West Metropolitan police and State Crime Command squads, have commenced an investigation under Strike Force Hackenberg into the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the statement read.
“As inquiries continue, police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”
The use of burnt out getaway cars has been a common theme in all of the 16 underworld-linked murders to have occurred on Sydney’s streets since late-2020.
The most recent before Monday’s shooting was the alleged murder of Taha Sabbagh in front of a young boy outside a Sefton gym in March.
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