Man dead, another injured in ‘family gang war’ shooting
Police have vowed to come down hard on the gangland violence in southwest Sydney in the wake of the latest shooting, which killed 22-year-old Shady Kanj — and shot an innocent bystander who lived to tell the tale.
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An innocent young man was nearly killed when a stray bullet meant for the latest victim of Sydney’s gun violence missed its target.
It is potentially the latest escalation in the conflict between two warring western Sydney families and the second time the feud has almost cost the life of a bystander.
Police have vowed to come down hard on the gangland violence in southwest Sydney in the wake of Friday night’s shooting, which killed 22-year-old Shady Kanj.
Kanj, a low level associate of the Alameddine organised crime network, was sitting in a black Kia Rio on Boundary Ave in Chester Hill when it was peppered with bullets about 11.15pm.
Kanj was shot several times but the driver of his car managed to drive away.
They made it to Rhodes Ave in Guildford before the driver pulled over and screamed for help.
“I just heard someone screaming help me, help, help,” neighbour Walid Rustom said.
Kanj, who a relative described on social media as a “kind hearted person with nothing but gold in your heart”, died at the scene.
Back in Chester Hill, a stray bullet had blasted through the windscreen of car parked outside Ramadan Osman’s house.
The 25-year-old was sitting in the car with his brother to watch football on their phone while relatives were watching another TV show inside.
The bullet hit Mr Osman, who has no connection to Kanj or any gang activity, in the head.
“All you hear is gunshots and by the time my brother said to me ‘duck’, I was blacked out,” he said at home on Saturday.
“By the time I came back to, half a bullet was in my head. The other half was in my beanie.
“The detectives showed me my beanie, that’s where your bullet ended up.”
His brother ran inside and called an ambulance while his distraught fiancee and younger siblings watched on in horror.
Mr Osman was treated at Westmead Hospital and released on Saturday afternoon.
“Thank god I am alive, I have to be the luckiest man honestly,” he said.
“Gunshot to the head and I am alive. Thank god.
“It shouldn’t have happened, it needs to stop ASAP, especially in this whole lockdown it’s not making it any better.
“The little kids are very happy I am alive. Especially for my little sister, she is 11 and my brother is 10. For them to see something like that with the blood and gunshot wound to the head is very traumatic.”
Asked what his message was to the shooter, Mr Osman replied: “Take it off the streets.”
Police are investigating whether the shooting is linked to the relentless feud between the Alameddine and Hamzy organised crime networks.
The conflict escalated late last year when Shalin Zrekia, an ally of the Alameddines, was bashed in the street by people loyal to the Hamzys.
Since then, four murders, including Bilal Hamze and Mejid Hamzy, and several other drive-by shootings have been linked to the conflict.
In February, a stray bullet hit a window at Auburn Hospital and injured a nurse in a drive-by shooting aimed at the home of Hamze’s mother.
Police weren’t wholly convinced on Saturday that Kanj’s death was a retaliatory hit given his loose associations with the Alameddine family.
“He was a runner, he wasn’t in the executive branch,” one source explained.
However, it is understood Kanj was friends with an aspiring rapper who is close with the Alameddine family.
Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Kanj was known but not well known to police.
“There is some obvious lines of inquiry in relation to the current conflict between organised crime networks,” Supt Doherty said on Saturday.
“There are some links to the Alameddine organised crime network. However that’s only one line of inquiry.
“We can’t say 100 per cent that’s what the main motive. We also can’t discount this could be an internal conflict between an organised crime networks.”
Supt Doherty confirmed police were still looking for the shooter behind the “incredibly dangerous act”.
“The 25-year-old who was in the car with a friend appears to just be an innocent bystander at this stage,” he said.
“It appears that he was sitting in the car watching sport on his phone and a stray bullet has grazed him. He is extremely lucky.
“I think his family and friends would be thankful he wasn’t killed and the community at large. I know we are.”
Underworld sources said Kanj was known to be close to members of the Hamzy family.
“The talk on the street is that his shooting is about the war … and it’s gonna get worse,’’ he said.
Strike Force Shepherd has been formed to investigate the shooting.
* Additional reporting by Mark Morri and Josh Hanrahan
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