Shot four times: Underworld figure survives third assassination attempt

Police are holding a well-known figure in Sydney’s criminal underworld under guard ‘for his safety’ after he survived his third assassination attempt when shot multiple times overnight.

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An associate of the Comanchero bikie gang has incredibly survived an assassination attempt – the third time he has been shot at and lived in the past four years.

Vailena Koloamatangi, 28, was sprayed with bullets as he left a friend’s home on Dale Place at Winston Hills shortly before 11pm on Wednesday, four of which hit him before he was taken to a nearby hospital.

Police sources said Koloamatangi is known to have links to members of the Comanchero OMCG.

He has been shot at twice in recent years, with the first incident in 2020 occurring as he sat in a car with an old school friend, when two men came up to the car and opened fire.

The second incident occurred only last September, when a masked man armed with two guns ran up to Koloamatangi as he pulled into the underground carpark of his Canterbury apartment block and shot at him 12 times from close range.

Vailena Koloamatangi has been the target of shootings three times. Picture: Channel 7

His innocent friend Ahmed Ezai was sitting in the car next to him and managed to run as the shots began to ring out. luckily avoiding injury, before the gunman fled the scene in a white Mercedes. Koloamatangi had made a full recovery, before being targeted again on Wednesday.

Emergency services at the scene in Sydney's west. Picture: Australian Incident Response Services Media

Officers from Parramatta Police Area Command set up a crime scene around the burnt-out vehicle in Northmead. Picture: Australian Incident Response Services Media

Detective Superintendent Barry Vincent, boss of Parramatta Police Area Command, said Koloamatangi was being held under police guard in hospital “for his safety”.

“At this point, the hospital guard is in place for his safety and safety of healthcare workers,” Det Supt Vincent said.

“Obviously we have concerns about that male being targeted … and whether that may present other opportunities for offenders we are looking for.”

Shortly after the shooting, a Jeep Grand Cherokee – believed to have been used as a getaway vehicle – was found torched in the nearby suburb of Northmead.

The car was taken away on a tow-truck by investigators who will comb through it for forensic evidence.

Firefighters from Fire & Rescue NSW work to extinguish the Jeep Grand Cherokee blaze in Northmead. Picture: Australian Incident Response Services Media

Detectives investigate the shooting and car fire, urging the public for any information or footage that may assist. Picture: Australian Incident Response Services Media

Det Supt Vincent said officers from State Crime Command would be assisting in the investigation which for obvious reasons was being treated as a targeted attack. “With regards to his history and what may have led to him being targeted, it’s not for me to say, it’s too early in the investigation,” Det Supt Vincent said.

A man fired two guns up to 12 times at Koloamatangi last year. Picture: NSW Police

He quickly fled the scene in a getaway car. Picture: NSW Police

The attempt on Koloamatangi in September last year at Campsie. Picture: TNV

“He is known to police and obviously that will form part of our inquiry as it will with our state (crime command) counterparts.”

The attempt on Koloamatangi’s life comes little more than a month after the unrelated assassination of Tarek Ayoub a few suburbs away in Parramatta.

Ayoub had been known as the “Angel of Death” because of his involvement in a significant number of murders that have unfolded as the gang war has raged over the last few years.

More than two dozen people have been shot dead since late-2020 in Sydney’s streets

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