The shootout that ignited infamous Sydney gang war

A broad daylight shootout in the streets of Sydney resulted in one death and kicked off a bloody gang war. See the incredible footage unearthed by The Daily Telegraph.

It is like a scene out of a Hollywood movie, but it happened right here on the street’s of Sydney.

In broad daylight, members of the Ahmad and Elmir crime clans went toe-to-toe, first physically, before some fired shots, resulting in the death of Safwan Charbaji and kicking off a gang war.

The incredible footage captured by a CCTV camera on Ilma St in Condell Park showed the group, “previously known to be friends”.

Court documents revealed the horrifying brazen nature of the shooting, including how close innocents came to being caught up in it.

“A few seconds before the deceased was killed, a man unconnected with the parties, drove his car containing his wife and two young children through the street,” the court documents state.

“The man saw a firearm and heard the shots fired.”

Unbeknown to him, the group he was driving past contained some of the biggest names in Sydney’s underworld at the time, including brothers Walid “Wally” Ahmad and Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, as well as rival heavyweight Fawaz “Fuzz” Elmir and his associates, including Charbaji.

Supplied CCTV of the moment underworld figures were involved in a broad daylight shootout on Ilma St in Condell Park. Picture: Supplied

Charbaji, 32, was shot as he sat in the passenger seat of a car as he and Elmir tried to leave the scene.

Another man, Abdullah El-Masri, would also be shot in the attack but remarkably survived.

Incredible vision accessed by The Daily Telegraph through the NSW Supreme Court shows the shootout occurring in the industrial estate.

The shootout at Condell Park resulting in the death of Safwan Charbaji and kicked off a gang war. Picture: Supplied

The vision was tendered as part of “Brownie” Ahmad’s court case for which he was convicted of Charbaji’s manslaughter and sentenced to six years in jail in 2017, before being released and himself being shot dead in 2022.

CCTV begins with the large group of men involved in a light scuffle, the intensity of which varies from pushing and shoving, to throwing punches.

Pictured is Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad.

Pictured is Fawaz Mohammed Elmir.

After about three minutes, the two groups separate onto opposite sides of the street.

On one side, standing alongside a white Holden Astra, was Charbaji in a white T-shirt, who can be seen pulling a handgun from out the back of his shorts.

Seconds later he is joined by his associate Elmir, wearing a blue T-shirt, to whom he hands the gun.

Elmir can then be seen firing shots over the roof of the Holden, towards a group who are out of view. Charbaji never fired a shot from any weapon.

While the video predominantly captures the movements of Charbaji and Elmir throughout the shootout, bullets were fired from multiple other guns.

One of those was from the revolver held by El-Masri, who in return was shot and fell to the ground.

As he lay on Ilma St, the video shows Charbaji and Elmir walking off, towards the Toyota Camry they had arrived in and parked nearby.

In the top right hand corner is Mahmoud "Brownie" Ahmad firing a shot. Picture: Supplied

If they thought the gunbattle was over, they were wrong, because as they got into their vehicle “Brownie” Ahmad took the revolver out of the wounded El-Masri’s hand.

Court documents state as he looked towards the Toyota Camry, he saw Elmir pointing a gun out the window – and so “Brownie” fired a “warning shot above the Camry” in deterrence.

“At this time, Walid fired three shots, two of which entered the Camry through the front window, killing the deceased, who was sitting in the front seat,” the documents state.

“Almost immediately after these shots into the windscreen, the Toyota Camry was driven to Bankstown hospital with the deceased Safwan Charbaji in the front passenger seat with a ‘bullet’ in his head,” the court heard.

Minutes later, Charbaji would be pronounced dead.

Several weeks later, “Wally” Ahmad would be shot dead at Bankstown Centro Shopping Centre.

Pictured is Wally Ahmad.

“Brownie” Ahmad initially flew overseas to Lebanon, before being arrested on his return to Sydney Airport almost a year later in April 2017.

Five years after his return, he would be shot dead on Narelle Cres in Greenacre.