Merrylands shooting linked to Alameddine Hamzy feud

A drive-by shooting in Sydney’s west overnight has been linked to a feud between warring crime families. But police believe the shooters missed their target.

Tit-for-tat violence between two feuding Sydney crime families almost claimed an innocent victim on Friday night — the second near-miss in a week.

Police suspect a volley of bullets that went through a home on Lockwood St in Merrylands about 10pm was a case of mistaken identity.

Officers believe the real target was next door — members of the Alameddine family who are well-known to police.

A house on Lockwood Street, Merrylands which was shot at overnight.

Their neighbours, a family of five, were home when a number of shots were fired into their home.

Luckily nobody was ­injured, despite one bullet going through a room with children’s toys and another passing through a bedroom where a couple were sleeping.

“At the end of the day it is just a matter of luck that no one was shot,” Auburn Police Superintendent Adam Johnson said.

A black 4WD or sedan was seen driving along Lockwood St before the house was sprayed with bullets.

Police suspect a car ­torched in Villawood shortly after the shooting was linked to the drive-by.

Despite a police crackdown and a suite of court orders, the violence between the Hamzy and Alameddine families has continued unabated.

The historic rivalry escalated into a war last October after Hamzy family patriarch Mejid Hamzy was executed outside his Condell Park home.

In a bid to quell retaliatory violence, NSW Police applied for serious crime prevention orders against two men linked to either family, Rafat Alameddine, Masood Zakaria, Ibrahem Hamze and Ghassan Amoun.

Amoun is the brother of Mejid Hamzy and notorious SuperMax inmate Bassam Hamzy. The orders heavily restricted the men’s ability to move around freely.

The theft of drugs and a battle for territory has previously been identified as the root of the conflict between the two powerful families.

While the violence had been largely confined to them, that changed this week.

Friday night’s reckless drive-by shooting came four days after a nurse was injured after a stray bullet smashed a window at Auburn Hospital.

Police suspect the shooter was aiming for a nearby home linked to Ibrahim Hamzy’s family. That house was the target of another drive-by shooting on October 17.

“This has taken it to a whole new level,” Supt Johnson said.

“Even the incident last week at Auburn Hospital, there was a nurse involved. We have people going about their daily lives and now they are targeted.”

He warned that anyone withholding information about the shooting or anyone who knew violence was being planned was as “culpable as the person pulling the ­trigger”.

The revamped Strike Force Raptor squad is due to roll out tomorrow (Monday) but officers got on the front foot over the weekend following the week of shootings.