Canterbury shooting: Bankstown police commander responds to recent shooting spike
Bankstown’s leading police officer has vowed to “not give up” in response to the escalating gun violence in Sydney’s southwest, with two people shot in two days, leaving members of the community in fear.
The Express
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Bankstown’s leading police officer has vowed to “not give up” in response to the escalating gun violence in Sydney’s southwest, with two people shot in two days, leaving members of the community in fear.
A man was shot dead at Broughton St, Canterbury about 2am Thursday; less than 24 hours
after bullets were fired at high profile lawyer Mahmoud Abbas outside his Greenacre home.
Bankstown Commander Superintendent Adam Johnson said the shootings were a “significant concern” with police working tirelessly to “bring these offenders to justice and continue to protect the community”.
“The police at Bankstown and across the LGA, including Campsie and Auburn, have the community’s safety at heart and will continue to work hard 24 hours a day and do our best to suppress this type of behaviour,” he said.
“We won’t give up, we’re pretty tenacious and will continue to investigate and put the appropriate resources to get a positive resolution on this current situation.”
After hearing about the shooting, waitress at nearby Charles Corner Cafe Prerna Chhantyal, said she doesn’t feel safe walking home.
“I was very scared this morning and I was scared to go to work as the shooting was not far from the cafe,” she said.
“When I finish work at night time I will be very scared to walk by myself now.”
During the morning rush, the 21-year-old said her customers had expressed fears for their safety as “nothing like this has happened before”.
“Most of the customers live near the incident and everyone was worried because they thought Canterbury was safe and they didn’t think it would happen here,” she said.
Despite her fears, Ms Chhantyal said the cafe would remain open and police have been doing a “good job” in managing the situation.
“I think the police are doing a good job, they are everywhere and I hope everything gets sorted out,” she said.
Michael, a Broughton St resident and employee at Deluxe Fencing, said he “wasn’t worried” about the shooting on his street.
“If you’re getting shot at 2am, you’re involved with the wrong people,” he said.
He said police “couldn’t do anything different” as the shooting was targeted and not a random attack.
“It’s a certain group of people having a problem, it’s not a person shooting random people. If it was random people, I’d be worried,” he said.
Bankstown Superintendent Johnson said it was too early to say if the two incidents were linked, but “we’re not ruling it out”.
“But it doesn’t really matter, because it’s still very concerning, very serious, and we need to get to the bottom of it,” he said.
“(We need to) not only solve these particular instances, but put things in place to make sure that this behaviour doesn’t continue. We are working hard and tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that that’s the case.”
Mr Johnson has called on the community to come forward if they have any information.
“If anyone has any knowledge, they really need to come forward and let us know because that could be the information we’re looking for,” he said.
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