Guildford neighbours’ shock at Salim Hamze, Toufik Hamze shootings

A woman said she ran inside after hearing a volley of bullets which struck and killed Salim Hamze and his father in the latest chapter of Sydney’s gangland war.

It took a volley of eight or nine bullets to kill a father and son in the latest suspected escalation of the bloody Hamze and Alameddine war.

Neighbours told of their shock at hearing the gunfire that killed Salim Hamze, 18, and his father Toufik, 64, on their quiet suburban Guildford street about 9am on Wednesday.

“It was a normal morning, I’d just started working and I heard a burst of four or five gunshots,” one neighbour said.

“Then there was a delay of about 10 seconds or something, and then another three or four.

“It’s not good, in this neighbourhood with a lot of kids around.”

A bullet can be seen in the door panel of a red car at the scene of the shooting deaths of two Hamze family members. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The bullet-riddled red Ute in which teenage gangster Salim and his innocent father Toufik were shot dead was taken away by police late on Wednesday afternoon.

The front of the rundown house was also struck by a number of stray bullets, with holes evident in the brickwork.

Another scared neighbour said she had just pulled into her driveway when she heard what she believes was the second round of gunshots, and quickly hurried inside.

“I had just dropped my child off at daycare and I stepped out of the car and was walking inside and I heard about three bangs,” the woman said.

Distressed family and friends at the scene of the shooting. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“I rushed inside because I was scared but I didn’t think it was gunshots until my daughter said: ‘Did you hear the gunshots?’

“Next thing I know police sirens were blaring, it must have only been a minute or two later, and then we saw it on the news.”

And the bloody underworld war between the rival Hamze and Alameddine crime families appears far from over.

The father and son wereslain side-by-side just moments after walking out of their home on Osgood St at Guildford, in Sydney’s southwest yesterday.

It is believed Salim, a low-level member of the Hamze crew, was the target of the ­attack with his unsuspecting father simply caught in the crossfire.

Police are now searching for two gunmen who lay in wait before fleeing the scene in a Lexus SUV.

Salim Hamze, who was gunned down, along with his father, in his car in Guildford on Wednesday. Picture: Facebook

Police found Salim Hamze and his father Toufik Hamze slumped inside a ute at Guildford. Picture: Supplied

That vehicle was dumped and torched ­before the pair then hopped into their final getaway vehicle — a dark Ford Mustang.

The deaths of the father and son duo take the Hamze family’s death toll to four since gang kingpin Mejid Hamzy was shot dead on October 19, 2020 — almost exactly 12 months ago.

Other family members including Ibrahim Hamze — whose brother Bilal, another family heavyweight, was killed in Sydney’s CBD in June — are also known to have prices on their head.

A court also heard in June that NSW Police received intelligence that Ghassan Amoun, the younger brother of gang leader Bassam Hamzy, had a “level of threat” against him as well.

With the battle for drug territory in the city’s southwest showing no signs of slowing, police have vowed to not only find those responsible, but to also come down harder than ever on both rival organisations.

“This is another appalling crime in a long list of gangland style shootings that have taken place in southwest Sydney,” NSW Police’s Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett said.

The burnt out car believed to be involved in the shooting deaths of two Hamze family members in Guildford. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

“These retribution-style, drug-turf style shootings, are an ongoing problem in southwest Sydney and we’ve got a large proportion of State Crime Command working on them full-time ... (and) we’ve been significantly successful in solving some of the ­matters.”

Despite the efforts of police to maintain pressure on the two families during Covid lockdown, Wednesday’s brazen killing of Salim and Toufik Hamze in broad daylight again highlighted the ferocity of the war gripping Sydney’s southwest.

Police believe the killers lay in wait outside the Osgood St home, potentially aware Salim went to work with his dad most mornings.

As the pair got into their car about 8.55am, the assassins opened fire.

While neighbours rushed to help the two dying men, their killers fled the scene in the gold Lexus SUV, before stopping at nearby Murdock Lane and setting the vehicle alight.

Residents described looking out their window to see orange flames engulfing the getaway car, but also reported seeing a dark-coloured two-door Ford Mustang speeding out of the lane.

Police believe this car was planted as a second getaway vehicle.

Bilal Hamze was killed in the CBD in June.

Mejid Hamzy was murdered almost exactly a year ago at his Condell Park home. Picture: Facebook

“I was washing my face and I heard people talking loudly out in the lane,” a Murdock Lane resident said.

“Then I heard my son screaming, so I ran over and there was fire coming from the lane and I saw a black car driving away.

“It was scary, we have young kids and they often walk through the lane.”

The Daily Telegraph understands police believe one motive for the attack on Salim Hamze may have been retaliation for several shootings, including a non-fatal drive-by on the home of Assad Alahmad earlier this year.

Alahmad is the brother-in-law of Rafat Alameddine, the head of the rival crime crew.

Sources said it was believed the Alameddines had been attempting to gather ­information in recent months about the movements of the teenage gangster.

The crime scene where Mejid Hamzy stumbled after being shot and killed a year ago. Picture: Jeremy Piper

When police carried out a Firearms Prohibitions Order (FPO) check on Salim last month they seized a gun which he had been keeping in the door of his vehicle, with police admitting he knew he was “under threat”.

“He was known to us as a person who was sometimes under threat and known to be involved in criminal organisations,” Supt Bennett said.

An aerial view of the crime scene on Wednesday. Picture: 7News

“Our main focus is a ­number of known families ­involved in serious and organised crime, so we’ll be ­chasing up every lead in ­relation to this matter and we will be hoping to interview people in the coming days.”

With the Homicide Squad leading the investigation into Wednesday’s killings, the Criminal Groups Squad and Raptor Squads are expected to continue to crack down on the rival crime clans.

Supt Bennett admitted police “always” feared reprisal attacks, but said they would be working on the gang issue nonetheless.

“We’re always worried about reprisals, we’re worried about family feuds and we’re also worried about drug and kidnapping turf wars, and they’re going on in southwest Sydney all the time,” Supt Bennett said.

“State Crime Command and local police are hand-in-glove trying to stop these crimes before they happen or investigate these crimes after they take place, and that‘s what’s happening today.

“The instances of public place shootings have been coming down this year and they’ll continue to come down this year.”