Sydney criminal lawyer Mahmoud Abbas shot outside Greenacre home
A criminal defence lawyer ran inside his home and called triple-0 himself after being shot in the same street in which underworld figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad was slain last year.
Police & Courts
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A well-known criminal defence lawyer has narrowly survived the latest “targeted” shooting on Sydney’s streets, with the broad daylight attack rocking the city’s legal profession as police search for a motive.
Mahmoud Abbas, 31, was shot in the stomach and right leg when a gunman opened fire as he got into his high-powered BMW in the driveway of his home on Narelle Cres in Greenacre about 10.25am on Wednesday.
Neighbours reported hearing three shots fired, with Mr Abbas dropping a black leather work bag, several $50 notes and pieces of paper on the ground, before managing to scramble back inside and call Triple-0 himself.
Police immediately put the Criminal Groups Squad and Raptor Squads on the ground in Greenacre, as they investigate the possibility the shooting is linked to his underworld clients or a completely unrelated matter.
Underworld sources said if it was an attempted gangland hit, it was unusual that the shooters did not set a getaway car on fire.
The shooting quickly sent shockwaves through Sydney’s legal profession, with the young solicitor known in the industry for representing high-profile clients including Salim Mehajer and Jamil Hopoate, as well as a number of alleged underworld figures.
“This is a person who went to university, has a family, works hard and for him to be shot outside of his home where his family reside, is obviously a very scary and worrying thing,” fellow solicitor Ahmed Dib said.
“We just hope he recovers very quickly, he is a lovely man.”
Experienced criminal lawyer Sam Macedone said: “It’s a bit of a shock, lawyers do their job and they don’t deserve to be paid in lead”.
In 2021, Mr Abbas teamed up with veteran barrister Greg James KC to represent former NRL player Jamil Hopoate, who was convicted of drug charges.
Mr James said his colleague was “a conscientious” and “hardworking individual”.
Mr Abbas was awake and in a stable condition as he was wheeled out of his home on a stretcher and taken to Liverpool Hospital by paramedics, where he was last night recovering from emergency surgery.
His wife and young children were home at the time of the shooting, as was his brother Mohamed - also a lawyer and part of their firm Abbas Jacobs - who lives next door, in the adjacent duplex.
After Mr Abbas was taken to hospital police attempted to gain entry to access CCTV cameras on the outside of his and his brother’s home, to gain access to likely crucial footage.
However that request was denied by the homeowners, with police returning several hours later with search warrants to access it.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told The Daily Telegraph her officers took their investigations “very seriously”.
“I can assure the community that the NSW Police Force treats these crimes very seriously,” she said.
“Don’t doubt that officers are working around the clock to prevent further incidents and to identify the offenders, so we can put them before the courts.
“It’s important to note that recent BOCSAR figures show that the number of shootings (non-fatal) in NSW in the past 12 months is the lowest it’s been for 20 years.”
Neighbours said the two Abbas brothers had lived in the newly-built homes for about two years, and were “good, friendly gentlemen”.
“We can’t believe this… they are good people, hard-working, family people,” one woman who lived nearby said.
“Why would someone target a good man?”
A grandmother minding her toddler grandson said she heard three “popping” sounds, just before 10.30am, but thought nothing of it until the street filled with sirens.
“It sounded like a toy… when you pop something,” she said.
“I didn’t know it was a gun until they (emergency crews) all turned up here
“It was just the three pops and then silence.”
It is little more than 12 months since residents of Narelle Crescent last heard gunshots and saw police tape.
That was in April last year after notorious underworld figure Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad was shot dead as he visited another man who lives on the street.
As a leader of the crime family carrying his surname, Ahmad had long been considered a “Mr Big” of the underworld and had even been warned by police about a bounty on his head, but was unable to escape his assassins, who remain at large.
One resident of the street said Wednesday morning’s shooting felt like a case of de ja vu.
“That time it was the end of the street where the person was shot, but it’s eerily similar,” the woman said.
Bankstown Police Area Commander Adam Johnson said the attack was “concerning”.
“This is clearly a brazen and a target attack, and we currently have one, if not more, offenders on the run,” he said.
“The circumstances we know at the moment are concerning and that’s why we’re there with all the specialist police from State Crime Command and detectives here from Bankstown, to make sure that all investigative leads are followed up.”
Mr Abbas’ shooting comes just three nights after three young people were shot in an unrelated attack that was also in Greenacre.
“We’re talking about a small minority of the population that choose to engage in this behaviour.” Detective Superintendent Johnson said.
Violent attacks on lawyers have happened in Sydney before, with solicitor Tom Williams shot dead outside his Petersham home in 2004.
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